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THE EVOLUTION OF 
THE TEACHER 

FRANCIS B. PEARSON, A.M. 

if / 

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 




Columbus, Ohio: 

THE HEER PRESS 

1914 



LBto25 



COPYRIGHTED 19J4 
BY 

Francis B.^Pearson 



MAR 16 1914 



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©CU369471 



DEDICATED 

TO ALL TEACHERS 

WHO ARE STRIVING TO EXCEL THEMSELVES 



PREFACE. 

This volume represents an attempt to interpret 
some of the basic principles of pedagogy in terms 
of every-day school-room experience. To this end, 
many concrete illustrations are used by way of clari- 
fying and reinforcing these principles. These illus- 
trations have been gleaned from schools of all grades 
— from the kindergarten to the university. 

To the many teachers who, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, have made contributions to this illustrative 
material, and to the many others who have made 
helpful suggestions, the author acknowledges, with 
gratitude, his indebtedness. 

If the teachers who read this book find in it sug- 
gestions that will help them in their efforts toward 
a wider professional horizon and a larger measure 
of service to all those whom they teach, the author's 
purpose will have been realized. 

F. B. P. 

February 24, 1914. 

(v) 



CONTENTS. 

I. Preliminary 1 

II. The Growing Teacher 5 

III. The Learning Process 17 

IV. Waste in Teaching 28 

V. The Social Process and the Teacher 37 

VI. Social Efficiency 46 

VII. School Aims 58 

VIII. Intermediate Aims 72 

IX. The Teacher as a Leader 82 

X. The Motive Element in Teaching 98 

XI. Human Interest in Teaching 108 

XII. The Problem Element in Teaching 120 

XIII. Technique in Teaching 132 

XIV. Behavior 140 

XV. Moral Training 150 

XVI. Appreciation 167 

XVII. School Spirit 184 

XVIII. The Teacher's Personality 199 

XIX. The Tactful Teacher 216 

XX. School Economics 231 

XXI. The Evolution 242 

(vii) 



CHAPTER ONE. 

PRELIMINARY. 

All who have meditated on the art of governing man- 
kind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends 
on the education of youth. — Aristotle. 

WHETHER the teacher, like the poet, is born 
and not made, has long been a moot 
question. We often hear the expression 
"a born teacher/' but whether this is a mere tradi- 
tion or an established fact is, as yet, open to debate. 
In books and on educational programs we often see 
captions whose meaning may be expressed in some 
such form as "How to improve teachers already in 
the service." From this we are led to infer that 
those who are responsible for these captions are 
convinced that even such as are born teachers may 
be improved by specified forms of training and by 
formulated experiences. 

Many seem to think that a full and complete 
mastery of a given subject is the only prerequisite 
for teaching and that inability to teach a subject is 
conclusive evidence of a lack of knowledge. 

On the other hand, there are many who contend 
that method has much to do with the successful 
teaching of any subject, from primary reading to 

(l) 



2 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

calculus. Indeed, a primary teacher of more than 
state-wide reputation, says that she devotes a full 
hour every evening to the preparation of the lesson 
in the reader for the primary class next day. 

The truth must lie in one or the other of these 
views or else combines the two. Certain it is that an 
increasingly large body of literature has grown out 
of discussions on the general subject of teaching 
and the inference is clear that the authors and pub- 
lishers of these books think there is need and a pos- 
sible demand for such publications. The mere titles 
of these books suggest a wide range of needs on the 
part of teachers. There are entire volumes devoted 
to methods of teaching arithmetic, and geography, 
and reading, and even spelling. These many 
methods are based upon what the authors claim are 
scientific principles and these principles have been 
evolved by careful investigations in psychology. 
Many of these works are already antiquated and 
their theories have been put aside because of later 
discoveries. This is true, also, of books and theories 
in relation to the sciences. This body of literature 
is cited as evidence of a definite conviction on the 
part of many that there is a science of education 
and that improvement is possible in the teaching 
process, if only methods are based upon the prin- 
ciples of this science. 

As a further evidence of this conviction colleges 
of education are being developed as an integral part 
of many of the great universities and the faculties 



PRELIMINARY. 3 

of these colleges are devoting themselves to the solu- 
tion of problems connected with schools and teach- 
ing. Much research work, also, is being done, not 
only by colleges but also by laymen, and this, like- 
wise, is done in the hope of increasing the efficiency 
of teachers. Whether the teaching and the schools 
of the present are the better for all these agencies is 
aside from the present purpose. Certain it is that 
vast sums of money are being voted for colleges of 
education and normal schools. 

When the expression, "Learn to do by doing," 
came into use there were many who thought they 
had discovered, in this, the solution of all school 
problems, not giving it enough thought to see in it 
only a half-truth. Skill does not come by doing 
alone, but by thoughtful doing. The handwriting 
of many people has not improved any in a decade 
with all their practice because the faults of their 
earlier efforts were not corrected in the beginning 
and the doing has grooved these faults into a 
habit. In like manner we do not learn to teach 
by teaching unless we give careful thought to the 
process. Hence, experience in itself is not an evi- 
dence of progress. A few years ago a teacher in 
Ohio celebrated the fortieth anniversary of his in- 
duction into school work in a rural school. But his 
fortieth year was spent in the same kind of a school 
as the first year. The quality of his work may have 
improved, but not enough to lead to promotion. 
Moreover, his salary had not been advanced appre- 



4 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

ciably. Experience to be of value must be more 
than merely spending time in the school-room. 
If there is not thought or conscious effort, teaching 
becomes mechanical and this is fatal to growth. 

In the following chapters an effort will be made 
to show some ways in which thoughtful and per- 
sistent effort on the part of the teacher may lead 
to increased efficiency; how a constant and careful 
regard for methods in the entire school regime may 
lead to better teaching; and how a larger appre- 
hension of the real meaning of the teaching process 
may redound to the advantage of the children in the 
schools and, also, to the community. 



CHAPTER TWO. 

THE GROWING TEACHER. 

I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today 
than he was yesterday. — Abraham Lincoln. 

AS a general statement it may be said that all 
growth, whether physical, mental, moral or 
professional, is conditioned upon proper 
food and exercise. A very large contingent of the 
human family is constantly engaged in efforts to 
discover the right kinds of food and exercise for the 
race. 

The minister of the gospel devotes a large meas- 
ure of his time to this problem. For hours each 
day, in his study, he reads, and ponders, and writes, 
that he may give to his people proper spiritual food ; 
and, in organizing the activities of his church, he 
strives to enlist the cooperation of every member in 
order to induce growth in spiritual life. 

In the realm of mental growth many agencies 
are active. Universities, colleges, schools, libraries, 
laboratories, the public press, writers and publishers 
of books — all these and many others are striving 
to lead the mind into larger fields of thought and 
action. 

In the matter of physical growth there is scarcely 
any limit to the number of contributing agencies. 

(5) 



6 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

The increasing interest in agriculture has the phys- 
ical well-being of the people as its ultimate object. 
Congress, legislatures, societies, and individuals are 
deeply interested in the subject of pure food in 
greater abundance. The people who are engaged in 
the production and preparation of foods form a 
large part of the population of every country. The 
profession of medicine is now concerned with die- 
tetics more than formerly and its province includes 
the prevention as well as the cure of disease. At 
the suggestion of physicians physical exercise in 
the gymnasium, in the school, in the home, and 
more especially in the open air is a part of the daily 
regime of many people. 

In like manner, it is coming to be recognized 
more and more that professional growth is depend- 
ent upon food and exercise. Indeed, the largest 
problem of the supervisor has to do with the pro- 
fessional growth of the teachers under his super- 
vision. He is quite aware that teachers are ad- 
vancing or receding all the while, that there is no 
"dead center" in professional life. He knows, too, 
that if it were possible for one teacher to remain 
stationary the advance of the others would cause a 
relative retrogression of that teacher. Hence it is 
that his problem bulks large before him. He, him- 
self, must know the school problem in all its aspects 
and ramifications in order to give sympathetic guid- 
ance and counsel. 

It soon becomes evident to him that growth 



THE GROWING TEACHER. 7 

in himself is one of the essential qualifications 
of a supervisor, that he must be a diligent 
student of the educational process, and that he must 
cultivate the scientific attitude toward everything 
pertaining to the school and its work. Otherwise, 
he will not be able to devise courses of study, adapt 
subjects to individual needs, and to the needs of the 
community he serves, and be a wise leader to his 
teachers. He discovers that tradition, alone, will 
not serve in the changing plans of school work as 
they are adapted to changing conditions but that 
tradition may be used as a vantage-point from 
which to view the field of action. He realizes that 
he must hold fast to all the good things of the past 
while planning other good things for the future. 
These reflections lead him, inevitably, to make a sur- 
vey of the agencies that may be invoked as aids in 
the solution of his problem. First of all, he looks to 
the library for assistance. There he finds books, in 
large numbers, bearing directly or indirectly upon 
the subject he is considering. He finds histories 
of education reaching back to the very beginning 
of the school. 

In these he sees how teachers from Plato and 
Aristotle down to the present have striven to 
reduce the process of teaching to a system and 
how teachers have endeavored to profit by the suc- 
cesses as well as the failures of their predecessors. 
He sees how these teachers have tried to combine 
the experiences of the past into a congruous whole 



8 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

in an effort to arrive at a general method, effective 
in all lands and in all schools. He sees systems come 
and flourish and then pass away but leaving some 
precipitation, even if slight. He sees the recombi- 
nations and readjustments of these past systems 
and their meager results traced in detail down to 
his own time and recognizes in them the foundation 
upon which to build a system for the future. He 
finds, also, books on the philosophy of education, on 
psychology, on child study, and pedagogy, and finds 
these to be the results of much careful thought and 
investigation by scholarly men and women. These 
books, he finds, are used in colleges for teachers, in 
normal schools, in reading circles, and in college 
extension classes. In all these he recognizes a some- 
what concerted movement toward better methods 
of teaching. 

Growing out of these is another large class 
of books that deal with specific subjects and 
problems connected with the school. How to bring 
all these agencies to bear upon the teaching and 
disciplinary processes in his own schools is one of 
the large problems that confront the supervisor. 
This one problem engages much of his thought and 
time. He is the leader in reading circle work, both 
as instructor and as exemplar. In this way he 
hopes to stimulate growth in all members of his 
teaching staff. He advocates an increase of salary 
for teachers who do advanced scholastic or profes- 
sional work in summer or regular terms of colleges 



THE GROWING TEACHER. 9 

or universities. He organizes extension classes 
among his teachers and sits with them as a student. 
He encourages them to attend meetings where in- 
formational and inspirational addresses are to be 
heard. He goes with them to visit other schools 
where excellent work is in progress. He secures 
leaves of absence for those who wish to study or 
travel. He encourages the reading of professional 
journals and books. He does all these things to 
induce self-activity on the part of the teachers, 
knowing that all these means of growth will be 
futile without this self-activity. 

Thus we return to the elements of growth, food 
and exercise, and find them applicable to profes- 
sional as well as to physical growth. The vital 
problem is to secure a right and constant use of the 
means at hand. The means may be supplanted by 
better ones in future but the teacher who awaits 
the coming of the better ones will not be able to use 
them well without, at the same time, using what we 
now have as the bases of what are to come. The 
development of educational theories and methods 
has been seen to be an evolution. Hence past, 
present, and future must ever be in the field of 
vision of every teacher who gives serious thought 
to the school problem. 

Every school-room affords opportunities for 
original and scientific investigation if the teacher 
knows how to use the material at his com- 
mand. But he must know if he hopes to make 



10 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

his work serviceable to others. To do this he 
must be conversant with the efforts of his predeces- 
sors and these efforts form the content of the his- 
tory of education. To interpret aright the move- 
ments of the present in their relation to the every- 
day work of the school he must be a student of 
present-day affairs as revealed in the literature that 
deals with school problems. Having a knowledge 
of the past and the present he will be able to set his 
compass for the years to come and his daily task 
will project itself into the whole future of the child 
he is teaching. 

Real teaching can not be done in daily in- 
stallments, but a knowledge of this fact comes 
to the teacher, very often, only after much 
travail of spirit. At first he does not know what 
he is expected to do, nor how he is to do it. To the 
solution of these two problems, however simple they 
may seem, entire college faculties are devoting their 
time; authors and publishers are giving their best 
energies; editors and orators are contributing the 
best they have of logic and eloquence ; and a host of 
teachers are giving their best endeavors. 

The growing teacher takes cognizance of all these 
in his efforts to come by a solution of the same prob- 
lems and thus becomes a co-worker with all others 
who are striving to this end. The professor in the 
college and the teacher in the district school are 
thus co-ordinates with the advantage in favor of the 
latter so far as first-hand material is concerned. 



THE GROWING TEACHER. 11 

This fact should lend encouragement to the teacher 
who is working directly with children and thus can 
study the problem, as it were, by the laboratory 
method. If he is conversant with educational theo- 
ries as set forth in books he can test these theories 
in every school exercise and so arrive at deductions 
and generalizations that are the material which the 
investigator most desires. Emphasis needs to be 
placed upon the fact that the teacher has the most 
favorable opportunity for original investigation in 
educational processes if only his attitude of mind 
and his training fit him for the work. The teacher 
who is growing is constantly striving to learn what 
his problem is and how to solve it and is using the 
work of each day in school to aid him in his task. 

In order to illustrate and reinforce what has 
been said in this chapter some extracts will now be 
given from letters of superintendents in which they 
explain how they try to aid their teachers to enlarge 
the content of their knowledge and to attain to a 
greater degree of efficiency. 

The first is from the superintendent in a city of 
the middle west, who says: "All the teachers in 
this city pursue some study regularly every year. 
They meet weekly, in conferences conducted by their 
several principals, to recite, discuss, elaborate, and 
illustrate the lessons studied during the preceding 
week. Every teacher is required, not only to join 
these classes, but to procure as her personal prop- 
erty the book or books, used. These studies are 



12 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

sometimes professional and sometimes semi-profes- 
sional. This year we are using Strayer's "A Brief 
Course in the Teaching Process/' Last year we 
made a study of Sociology, in an attempt to make 
clearer to the teachers the place of the public school, 
along with other institutions that are engaged in 
the work of civilizing. In addition to these required 
studies, many of our teachers are taking corre- 
spondence courses in such institutions as Chicago 
University. Some are doing definite, special work 
under the direction of friends who are capable of 
aiding them. 

"Certain clubs, meeting either regularly or irre- 
gularly, under the direction of the superintendent, 
or others, are engaged in the study of academic sub- 
jects. Sometimes these clubs consist of all the 
teachers of particular grades. At other times, they 
consist of groups of teachers who seem to need this 
particular help." 

Another superintendent of schools in a city of 
about eighteen thousand people, says: 

"I'd feel like resigning my position if I did not 
think that one hundred per cent of our teachers 
(disregarding a few sufferers from anno domini) 
were growing in scholarship and teaching power 
every day of their lives. Here are some of the 
things we are doing: 1. Advocating membership 
in the various study clubs of the city and active par- 
ticipation in the work of these organizations. Only 
this week I excused two teachers from a grade 



THE GROWING TEACHER. 13 

meeting who were scheduled for papers before one 
of our leading women's clubs. 2. Follow the prac- 
tice of mentioning new books and magazines in talks 
and conversations and, later on, making a second 
reference to the same books and articles. 3. Em- 
phasize the value of travel and summer schools. 
4. Conduct the customary grade and general teach- 
ers' meetings. 5. Organize and direct classes for 
the careful study of professional books. Our eighty- 
five teachers are divided into three sections for this 
work. 6. Another plan that I have used to good 
purpose is to have what we call a 'grade institute.' 
Suppose I have an excellent teacher of geography 
who has not the ability to explain her methods to 
her fellow teachers in a grade meeting. Some after- 
noon I dismiss the schools of the other teachers of 
her grade and we all go to her school and see her 
exemplify her methods with her class. I regard this 
a splendid means of extending the influence of the 
superior ability of a particular teacher. There is 
some danger in the use of this plan unless a corps 
of teachers has advanced beyond the point of petty 
jealousies." 

Another superintendent says the means he em- 
ploys is "not to employ them till they are profes- 
sionally equipped with modern skill and knowledge 
and a healthy appetite for fresh food every day." 

From another letter the following is taken: 
"Five per cent of our teachers are time servers and 
care little for anything but 'to hold their jobs.' I 



14 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

suppose about ten per cent., on an average, attend 
summer schools. They all read first-class educa- 
tional periodicals — most of them because they like 
to do so, and some because I insist upon it. Three 
or four who have not degrees are working con- 
stantly to that end. All the high school teachers 
are enthusiastic students in their special lines and 
a few are interested in the general problems of 
education. I suppose fifty per cent of all the teachers 
are intelligent readers of the best current liter- 
ature other than professional literature. We are 
becoming a little more progressive in attendance at 
educational meetings and are traveling more with 
our eyes wider open." 

These letters are probably representative in 
showing the interest of supervisors in the growing 
quality of their teachers. They know that the wider 
the horizon, both intellectual and professional, of 
teachers the more resourceful they are and the 
greater their chances for positive success in their 
work. 

One more of these letters will conclude these 
quotations : 

"All of our teachers are doing something along 
the line of self-improvement. We all read the read- 
ing circle books as the accompanying program will 
indicate. I take up the reading and study each 
month in a general meeting of all the teachers. 
Parts are assigned. I make out programs, and send 
them around to the teachers. Teachers prepare for 



THE GROWING TEACHER. 15 

the meeting and are obliged to do outside study and 
reading apart from what they find in the books. 
The meetings are very interesting to the teachers. 
Often they engage in very heated, though good 
natured, discussions, taking parts and carrying on 
their arguments. All this is good, for it means that 
preparation is necessary. 

"Then, according to the enclosed program, I 
have a class called the Tennyson and Browning club. 
It is made up of all the teachers — fifty of them — 
and several townspeople. We meet as per schedule. 
Each prepares for a short reading. The main pur- 
pose is to get acquainted with the beauties of Ten- 
nyson and Browning. We strive to know their phil- 
osophy, and their influence on the age. This is good 
cultural work for the teachers. Besides they gain 
much by reading aloud before an audience once a 
month. I feel that this is one of the best things I 
ever attempted with teachers. They love the meet- 
ings. I prepare carefully and it takes time and con- 
centrated effort. 

"There is an association among the teachers, the 
Chautauqua Reading Circle with which you are very 
familiar. Many of the older teachers belong to this. 
I have nothing whatever to do with this. 

"Each month according to schedule, we have 
the regular grade meetings. Each teacher prepares 
for this meeting. In fact, this is the real meeting 
for solid pedagogical work. We waste no time, but 
go right after the topics and make as much of them 



16 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

as possible. The teachers understand that the pur- 
pose of these grade meetings is for mutual improve- 
ment as teachers, that they may render more effi- 
cient labors for the good of the children. This kind 
of effort increases the content of the teacher's mind 
as well as efficiency. It makes the superintendent 
get out and hustle. He has to be among the teachers 
and pupils constantly that he may know how to 
meet the situations. It is always my rule to read 
all I can find on these topics and bring ideas to the 
teachers in these meetings. I am not an office super- 
intendent. I am always among the teachers and 
pupils. What reading and study I do is done at 
night." 

This chapter may well close with the prayer 
which Robert Louis Stevenson expresses so cogently 
in his 

THE CELESTIAL SURGEON. 

If I have faltered more or less 
In my great task of happiness; 
If I have moved among my race 
And shown no glorious morning face, 
If beams from happy human eyes 
Have moved me not; if morning skies, 
Books, and my food, and summer rain 
Knocked on my sullen heart in vain — 
Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take 
And stab my spirit broad awake; 
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I, 
Chooose Thou, before that spirit die, 
A piercing pain, a killing sin, 
And to my dead heart run them in. 



CHAPTER THREE. 

THE LEARNING PROCESS. 

Every ultimate fact is only the first of a new series. 

— Emerson. 

EDUCATION comes not from the outside, but 
from the inside; not by accretions, but by 
enlargement. A quotation from Browning 
may serve to reinforce this statement and, at the 
same time, indicate the general trend of the present 
chapter. He says: 

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise 
From outward things, whate'er you may believe. 
There is an inmost center in us all 
Where truth abides in fullness; and around, 
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in, 
This perfect clear perception — which is truth. 
A baffling and preventing carnal mesh 
Binds it, and makes all error; and to know, 
Rather consists in opening out a way 
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, 
Than in effecting entry for a light 
Supposed to be without. 

This seems to be a reversal of the commonly ac- 
cepted view as revealed in the expression, "getting 
an education." If Browning is right, then this ex- 
pression has no warrant and we must reconstruct 
our nomenclature. Education is a process and not 

2 (17) 



18 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

a product. We can get products but not processes. 
We can get material things but not immaterial 
things, not spiritual things. And education is 
spiritual. We may become educated but we do not 
get an education. This fact needs emphasis in 
order to have a clear understanding that education 
is a process. This process begins at birth and con- 
tinues throughout life. It is not confined to schools 
by any means. Schools are useful in accelerating 
the process by organizing and systematizing the 
materials that are used in this process. Arithmetic, 
grammar, and geography are some of the materials 
that are commonly used to help the process on. 
Education is a movement extending upward and 
outward and these branches of study stimulate and 
strengthen the movement. Hence a child does not 
go to school to learn arithmetic, or history, or 
algebra, but rather studies these subjects that he 
may go to school, that the developing process may 
be nourished by them. They are the reinforcing 
agencies along the way, the articles of food that the 
soldier puts into his haversack to supply strength 
for the march. 

There are a few fundamental and well-known 
principles of psychology that will stand us in good 
stead as we consider this subject of the learning 
process. One of these is "The soul responds to ex- 
ternal stimuli;" another, "The soul reacts upon its 
environment;" and still another, "Proceed from the 
known to the related unknown." These principles 



THE LEARNING PROCESS. 19 

have been explained and elaborated in books until 
now they are the common property of students of 
educational theories and processes. Dr. Strayer, 
in his illuminating book, "A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process," says: "School education begins 
not with the ignorance of the child but with his 
knowledge," and we may well take this as a starting- 
point. 

A boy is but the sum of all his knowledges, all 
his experiences, and all his native tendencies or 
interests. If we represent the boy as a circle, then 
within this circle will be found all these elements 
and outside the limits of this circle this boy does not 
exist. If we "begin where the boy is" we must 
enter this circle, else the boy will completely evade 
us. So far as this boy is concerned, this circle in- 
cludes all the known, while the unknown consists of 
everything that lies outside this circle. The learn- 
ing process presupposes a relation between the 
circle and that which lies outside. The known and 
the unknown must be related if the learning process 
is to continue. If the unknown is represented as a 
larger circle then this must intersect or, at least, im- 
pinge upon the boy's circle or there will be a chasm 
between the two with no possible bridge to span it. 
With this chasm existing there is no way by which 
the boy can go from his circle of the known over 
into the other circle of the unknown. If he has 
never seen or heard of a bird it will be futile to try 
to teach him lark, or robin, or sparrow, or eagle. 



20 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

He has had no experience by which to interpret the 
new experiences as represented by the names of 
these birds. Or, as the psychologists tell us, he has 
no sensory foundation for new concepts. Speaking 
of robins or larks produces no reaction in his mind, 
brings no mental response. 

In Revelation we have a description of the 
Celestial City, as follows : "And the foundations of 
the wall of the city were garnished with all manner 
of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; 
the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the 
fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, 
sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; 
the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus ; the 
eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst." 
Only a lapidary is able to read this description with 
understanding because he, alone, has the sensory 
fourdation. His mind reacts because his knowledge 
of and experience with precious stones enables him 
to interpret the new experiences which this descrip- 
tion produces. The person who claims to read the 
New Testament entire each year may have looked 
at the words of this description many times and 
even pronounced them but only the expert ever read 
them. To the man who has had no experience with 
such materials the words have neither meaning nor 
significance. He could make no intelligent choice 
among these twelve foundations. If one had been of 
brass he would choose that, at once, because it is the 
only one upon which his mind reacts. To him the 



THE LEARNING PROCESS. 21 

others have no value because they have no meaning ; 
and, hence, there can be no consideration of relative 
values. 

His failure to read this passage is due to the fact 
that the known and the unknown are not related, 
that the large circle does not intersect his circle. In 
the case of the lapidary there is such intersection 
and the points of contact furnish the reaction and 
he gets the meaning from the words, whether they 
come to him through the sense of sight or the sense 
of hearing. 

This brings us again to Dr. Strayer's dictum, 
"School education begins not with the ignorance of 
the child but with his knowledge." This must be so 
since his present knowledge is brought into requi- 
sition in the interpretation of new knowledge, and 
without knowledge there can be no interpretation 
of the new experiences that are brought to him 
through either of the senses. His concept of flower 
will enable him to react upon many flowers, and 
add to this a concept of aroma and he will differen- 
tiate the rose from the lilac through the sense of 
smell alone. Some time we may hope to have a 
school history written that will be based upon this 
principle of proceeding from the known to the re- 
lated unknown. Some of our histories would well- 
nigh meet this requirement if the reading should be- 
gin with the last page and advance toward the first. 
The same might be said, also, of our books on lit- 
erature. Some books on geography observe this 



22 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

principle in some degree, since they begin with local 
geography and advance to the unknown. The prin- 
ciple is used extensively in spelling and word 
studies. We take roots and from these, by means of 
prefixes and suffixes, build a long list of related 
words, and the philosophy of the process of learning 
points to a wider use in other branches. 

As a further illustration of the practical appli- 
cation of the principle, let us suppose that a selec- 
tion from Shakespeare's Henry Eighth is found in 
the school reader. The pupils may know little or 
nothing of the king whose name is found in the 
selection nor of the writer, Shakespeare. Their 
curiosity may be easily aroused as to the place of 
these men in history. They will be surprised to 
learn that the selection in their book is but a small 
part of the complete play. But when Cardinal 
Wolsey and Queen Katharine have once become real 
to them they will be eager to read the entire play. 
When this has been done they will desire further 
knowledge of the plays of Shakespeare and, in due 
time, they can claim acquaintance with many of his 
masterpieces, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, 
The Tempest, and The Comedy of Errors. 

An incident is related of a teacher who found 
a boy playing with a top in the class in geography. 
Her first impulse was to confiscate the toy and ad- 
monish him to give his attention to something worth 
while. Upon second thought, however, she decided 
to make an experiment and "begin where the boy 



THE LEARNING PROCESS. 23 

is." The whole boy seemed to be focused upon that 
top, so she went to the top to find the boy. The 
top, it was soon discovered, had been brought by an 
uncle from San Francisco. This discovery opened 
up a wide field for reactions on the part of the 
pupils and one gave a graphic recital of experiences 
of relatives at the time of the earthquake, another 
told of the Cliff House, and the seal rock near by, 
another told of Golden Gate Park and the monu- 
ment of Francis Scott Key, which led to the further 
discovery that his name appeared in their song book 
as the author of the national hymn. A boy from a 
family of military people described the Presidio 
and explained how the name is derived from the 
praesidium of Julius Caesar. Hence, beginning with 
the native interest of the boy, as represented by the 
top, there were excursions into the related unknown 
every one of which produced lasting results for all 
members of the class. While the plan of the book 
was not followed, California was a very real place 
to them at the close of the recitation period. The 
top, which might have been considered banal by 
some teachers, became the known element in the 
learning process in this class and served its purpose 
well. No doubt, tops and San Francisco are closely 
associated in the minds of those pupils even yet. 

Returning to our circle we begin to see how "the 
soul responds to external stimuli." The mind, or 
soul, having some knowledge of a subject wants 
more of the same kind. The external stimuli must 



24 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

be related to the knowledge the child already has 
in order to win a response. All the class knew top 
and when its relation to San Francisco was estab- 
lished their minds leaped forward to this city, and 
then to details as they, in turn, became external 
stimuli until all these became as much a part of 
their knowledge as the top itself. 

It is a fact in the physical world that a child 
who has once eaten custard pie finds his mouth 
watering at the very sight of such a pie ever after- 
ward. Had he never tasted a custard pie the sight 
of one would not produce this effect. The qualities 
of this particular pie are unknown to the boy but 
he has some knowledge of custard pies in general 
and so is anxious to proceed to the related unknown. 
The pie is the external stimulus and the response 
is natural and inevitable. This illustration may 
seem homely, or home-like, but it serves to bring 
this principle of psychology to the plane of common 
experience. 

In this connection, we find an illustration, also, 
of the principle that "the soul reacts upon its en- 
vironment." The pie may be cited again but now as 
environment. The reaction has been described and 
now it has ceased to be environment but has become 
an element of strength to the boy. At every such 
reaction upon environment the environment becomes 
assimilated and the circle is thereby enlarged. The 
environment becomes knowledge only after this 
process of assimilation and, hence, learning will be 



THE LEARNING PROCESS. 25 

seen to be a process of enlargement. There is 
hunger of spirit that is as real as hunger of body, 
and the function of the teacher is to generate this 
spiritual hunger in her pupils. Because of differ- 
ences in the native interests of her pupils, due to 
heredity, environment, and other causes, she has 
great need for resourcefulness as a spiritual caterer, 
in order to beget a spiritual yearning in each indi- 
vidual. Right here is where the theory of uniformity 
in instruction, the "Procrustean bed" idea, receives 
its most emphatic refutation. Children are not uni- 
form and the teaching can not be uniform if it is to 
be scientific and effective. The child who comes 
direct from Europe knows nothing of pies and the 
teacher can not hope to lure him, at first, with the 
pie concept. He will not react upon pie and she 
must discover his knowledges in order to learn a 
method of approach. He may have no interest in 
poetry because he has no experiences to react upon 
it ; but she may make an appeal to other experiences 
that will react upon the environment she has pro- 
vided until, at length, by a successive enlargement 
of the circle it will come to include poetry. 

A man once purchased a set of the American 
Statesmen Series, thinking his son might find occa- 
sion to read them. This son, however, was reading 
Henty and books of like nature, as well as other 
stories of thrilling adventure. All the while the 
American Statesmen were peacefully standing with 
military precision on a shelf in the library, far away 



26 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

in the realm of the unknown, all unmoved by the 
procession of events in the form of books by Henty, 
Stevenson, and Kipling. The boy's circle was en- 
larging all the while, however, through the absorp- 
tion of more and more environment until, finally, 
the military order of the Statesmen was thrown 
into confusion and they never regained their former 
peaceful state. Then ensued demands for Irving, 
Bancroft, Fiske, Bryce, Von Hoist, Rhodes, and 
Wilson. 

In "The Servant in the House" we find this sen- 
timent expressed, "Every wish comes true if we only 
wish hard enough," and the learning process de- 
pends upon the intensity of the wishing of the 
learner. Given an eager yearning for truth in any 
of its phases and the food that will satisfy this 
yearning will certainly be found. The ability to 
generate this yearning is the hall-mark of the good 
teacher; inability to do this betokens the mechan- 
ician. If the boy who has completed the work in the 
play of "Julius Caesar" is anxious to proceed to the 
unknown in "Hamlet," "A Midsummer Night's 
Dream," and "Richard III" he should be given a 
passing grade and a God-speed without further ado 
or examination. The girl who, after reading "Silas 
Marner," yearns for "Adam Bede," and "Romola," 
gives proof positive that she has been well taught. 
With such an impetus to the learning process these 
young people will continue to react upon their en- 
vironment long after their school experiences have 



THE LEARNING PROCESS. 27 

closed. The child who reads "The Village Black- 
smith" in the afternoon and, then, declines an invi- 
tation to the picture-show in order to read "Evan- 
geline" in the evening has no need for a curfew 
bell. The child who is so aroused in the class in 
geography that he wants to read of and hear of the 
places and peoples mentioned in the book, shows 
obedience to the laws of the learning process. Here 
lies the remedy for absence, tardiness, and truancy 
in the schools. Here is the scientific and crucial 
test of effective teaching. 



CHAPTER FOUR. 

WASTE IN TEACHING. 

There are no fragments so precious as those of time. 

— Montgomery. 

WASTE in teaching should be carefully dis- 
tinguished from waste in school admin- 
istration. This has often been discussed. 
The caption of this chapter has a more restricted 
application but is not negligible on that account. 
Waste in teaching has to do with every phase of 
school work, from the opening to the closing, and so 
has a close relation to every movement and every 
word of both teacher and pupils throughout the day. 
Mention will be made of things that show prodi- 
gality of time and energy, not in a critical spirit, 
but, solely, in the hope that, by eliminating these 
sources of waste, the evolution of the teacher may 
be accelerated. Some of the things mentioned may 
seem small, in themselves, but taken together they 
may bring disaster upon the teacher and the school. 
The teacher who, day by day, strives to excel her- 
self is the one who is constantly alert for sugges- 
tions looking to betterment in every detail of school 
work. Such a teacher welcomes suggestions, from 
whatever source, considers them carefully and, if 
found worthy, acts upon them. 

(28) 



WASTE IN TEACHING. 29 

In such a simple matter as calling the roll may- 
be found one source of waste. It would seem to be 
an easy matter, after the teacher has had time to 
become acquainted with the pupils, to note at a 
glance who the absentees are without resorting to 
roll call. In a room of forty pupils it requires from 
three to five minutes to call the roll and this repre- 
sents a waste of time of not less than nine hours in 
a school year or one hundred and eight hours in 
the school life of the child. If some incidental good 
could be discovered the habit might be passed over 
in silence. But it amounts to an ordeal for the 
children since there is nothing inspiring or dis- 
tinctive in the time thus spent. To the children in 
the primary grade and to the students in the col- 
lege class it is a bore, without excuse or palliation. 
Teachers in high schools and colleges with classes of 
not more than twenty solemnly call the roll each 
day with "neither variableness nor shadow of turn- 
ing," and it must seem a joke, if not a form of im- 
politeness, to the active young people of the class 
who are eager to get on to something that is worth 
while. 

Along with this may be mentioned such a matter 
as posting the school-register. One teacher care- 
fully makes a cross after each child's name to in- 
dicate the presence of that child on that day. An- 
other simply indicates the absences and has a clear 
record for each child who is present every day. 
Suppose there are forty pupils in the room and ten 



30 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

absences in the course of the month. The first 
teacher sets down three hundred and ninety marks 
while the other accomplishes a more kindly and 
logical result by the use of only ten marks. This 
means a clear waste of the time required to make 
three hundred and seventy marks. Counting this 
time as five minutes a day we have an aggregate, 
for the year, of fifteen hours, to make no mention 
of the expenditure of energy. It seems inexcusable 
to debase the vital energies and the attainments of 
the teacher to such uses. 

If supervisors are responsible they should be 
made to realize, somehow, that the conservation of 
the teacher's energy is of great importance to the 
school and that no supervisor has any right to be 
prodigal of this energy in demanding that it be 
expended upon matters that are futile. 

Again, there is waste when the teacher repeats 
the answer of the pupil. Some inveigh against this 
practice as a form of impoliteness on the part of 
the teacher. Strictly interpreted this is true. No 
teacher would do this in a drawing-room. If she 
did not understand she might ask the speaker to 
repeat, or she might ask him to repeat for the ben- 
efit of other auditors but she would consider it a 
breach of etiquette to repeat what was said. In 
the class-room, however, the habit of repeating the 
pupil's answer means a waste of that fine alertness 
on the part of the pupils which makes for success 
in the recitation. 

Everything that is said in a recitation should 



WASTE IN TEACHING. 31 

be heard and understood by every pupil. A 
soliloquy is not a recitation. The teacher should 
see to it that the one reciting is so placed that 
every other pupil may hear every word. This 
will be done if the plan is observed of having each 
one understand that he is reciting to and for the 
class and not to or for the teacher. The distinction 
is important. If the teacher recognizes this prin- 
ciple she will soon train members of the class to 
ask for a repetition if it is necessary. The pupil 
who recites definitely, clearly, and convincingly has 
a clear right to the look of approbation that in- 
evitably comes from class-mates and the teacher 
takes from the glory of the achievement by repeat- 
ing the pupil's words. If the pupils show some re- 
sentment it is not to be wondered at. 

Repeating answers is certain to dull the interest 
of the entire class and make them feel that they 
have been forced to abrogate some of their rights 
and privileges. Moreover, the time thus consumed 
by the teacher is worse than wasted. Such a prac- 
tice shows how easy it is for teachers to fall into 
habits that lack many of the cardinal virtues. When 
challenged on this particular habit teachers usually 
admit with perfect frankness that it is thoughtless- 
ness and wonder why the supervisor had not called 
attention to the matter. When the supervisor is 
asked he usually expresses surprise that any teacher 
in the corps has contracted such an unfortunate 
habit and thus declines to assume any responsibility. 

Closely akin to this habit, as a source of waste, 



32 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

is the habit of telling facts to pupils instead of 
teaching them how to learn the facts for them- 
selves. The telling teacher is not the thorough 
teacher and the talking teacher is not the teaching 
teacher. These alliterative statements bear much 
of truth, but we are inclined to think them appli- 
cable to others and not to ourselves. Investigations 
have been made in this matter by having steno- 
graphic records made of recitations. In some 
cases it was found that teachers used from ten to 
twenty times as many words in a recitation as all 
the pupils combined. As a rule it may be said that 
the fewer words the teacher uses the better the 
recitation and that the more words the pupils use 
the better the recitation. 

Not what a pupil hears but what he ex- 
presses is the measure of his gain in a class ex- 
ercise. The teacher who thinks that telling is 
teaching finds bitter disappointment in subse- 
quent examination grades and, often, reproaches 
the pupils and vindicates herself by saying she told 
them that over and over again. A little thought 
would convince her that the reason they do not 
know is because she has told them so much. If the 
potentiality of the pupil is ninety and he attains a 
grade of seventy in the test because of undue telling 
the teacher must assume responsibility for a loss of 
twenty. In the aggregate for the entire class this 
responsibility would seem to be heavy enough to 
discourage the lecture system. It is not fair to the 



WASTE IN TEACHING. 33 

pupil to have his grade reduced by any per cent 
because the teacher has occupied time that, by 
every right, belonged to him and this source of 
waste can not be held in light esteem. 

A distinguished teacher and writer says that 
real teaching begins where the text-book leaves off, 
and Bishop Spalding says, "He who gets from books 
only what they contain, knows not their proper use," 
but this is not easy for teachers to realize in ex- 
perience. They are prone to think that teaching 
has to do with the matters set forth in the books 
and that, when the pupil has, with a good degree of 
accuracy, reproduced these matters, their task is 
done. It is not easy for them to act upon the prin- 
ciple that the text-book is but the point of de- 
parture for real teaching and that this principle 
actuates the author of the book. This must be so, 
of course, or the potency of the teacher would fail 
of realization. The teacher is extolled as being 
superior to buildings, courses of study, and text- 
books, and this is true provided the teacher uses 
the book as a means and not an end. 

As an illustration, suppose the teacher assigns 
ten problems in arithmetic for the next day. When 
the class comes to the recitation, the teacher can do 
one of two things with this list of problems. She can 
have the pupils re-solve these problems at the board 
and call it a perfect recitation if each pupil solves 
his particular problem; or, she can have the pupils 
solve other problems involving the same principle. 

3 



34 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

The former plan is in pretty general use and is 
what one thoughtful teacher calls a "post-mortem" 
review of the lesson. If the pupil has solved all 
ten of the problems it dampens his ardor to repeat 
the process. But, if new problems are proposed, he 
is keenly alert and attacks these new problems with 
eagerness. 

Hence, the practice of solving the same prob- 
lems again is a waste of interest and enthusiasm 
and tends to produce mental inertia, the very 
thing that the teacher wishes to obviate. The 
teacher can readily make a new problem by chang- 
ing the numbers in the problem in the book. The 
new problem will test the work of pupils quite as 
well as the other and, at the same time, give new 
zest to the class exercise and an added illustration 
of the principle involved. 

Again, assuming that the statement concerning 
real teaching as cited above is correct, then, when 
this real teaching begins, the text-book should be 
wholly subordinated and used merely as a help or 
a reference in the process. To use the book other- 
wise would seem to convict the teacher of falling 
short of real teaching. A text-book in the hands 
of the teacher during the recitation tends to em- 
phasize, in the mind of the pupil, the notion that 
education and books are synonymous no matter how 
often the teacher asserts the contrary. The prac- 
tice of the teacher contradicts her words, and to 
the pupil "seeing is believing." Hence a text-book, 
or a grade-book, in the hands of the teacher gives 



WASTE IN TEACHING. 35 

to the pupil a view of education that is all too nar- 
row, and a vision that is not true, and so is another 
form of waste. 

In assigning lessons the teacher has an oppor- 
tunity to prevent waste. A mere suggestion as to 
how to proceed in preparing the lesson, an explana- 
tion of the meaning of a word, pointing out just 
where the real difficulty will be found may save 
much time for the pupil and forestall discourage- 
ment. Simple as it may seem some pupil may not 
understand the meaning of invert in the rule for 
the division of fractions and will flounder about for 
half an hour because of ignorance as to this one 
word. The teacher, by explaining the word to the 
class, will save this half hour to the child and ren- 
der division of fractions a pleasant experience. The 
two words in Latin aetas and aestas have puzzled 
pupils for years in their high school course. This 
could have been cleared up in a minute if the words 
had been carefully compared at the first appearance 
of either. Similarly the future indicative and the 
present subjunctive of verbs of the third and fourth 
conjugations are hopelessly confused in the minds 
of some pupils because these two tenses were not 
placed side by side in the beginning and their dif- 
ferences noted. The assignment of the lesson, 
therefore, is an important factor in school work 
and requires much thought by the teacher in order 
to determine the medium between too much and too 
little. 

Another form of waste has to do with written 



36 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

work. Some teachers read every paper religiously 
and indicate every error. This is nerve-racking 
work and unfits the teacher for the best work the 
next day. Much of this work can profitably be dele- 
gated to the pupils. They learn to correct their 
own mistakes in the process and have the added ad- 
vantage of social co-operation. At one time they 
can correct for spelling, at another for punctuation, 
and at another for the use of capitals, and the proc- 
ess becomes mutually educative. In collecting 
and distributing papers there is an opportunity for 
economizing time. If the papers are arranged 
systematically they can be distributed in one-tenth 
of the time that would be required for the teacher 
to make the distribution. 

Hurrying is still another form of waste. The 
teacher who has pose and poise never seems in a 
hurry and never rouses her school to a high pitch 
of excitement. A school should be a place of peace 
and serenity to be highly efficient. A nervous hur- 
rying destroys serenity and militates against effec- 
tive work. The calm and serene teacher is the ef- 
fective teacher. Hurrying is never a mark of lead- 
ership. This is emphatically true in the school. 

To all this may be added the waste incident to 
unnecessary formalities. Sometimes these for- 
malities are almost ponderous. The teacher whose 
first word strikes the lesson in a vital part secures 
attention at once, and interest always follows close 
upon the heels of attention. 



CHAPTER FIVE. 

THE SOCIAL PROCESS AND THE TEACHER. 

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. 

THE social process is the sum of all the activi- 
ties that engage the time and attention of 
all the people of the community. The shop, 
the factory, the store, the farm, the office, the 
home, — these are all parts of the social process. 
Every individual who does work of any sort is a 
factor in this process and his individual effort 
modifies, in some degree, the character of the com- 
posite. The motorman on the car, the engineer at 
the lever, the judge on the bench, the smith at his 
forge, the minister in his study, the lawyer over 
his brief, the farmer in his field, the stenographer 
with her notes, the house-wife at her task, the nurse 
beside the patient, the mother at her baby's cradle 
— all these enter into the social process. In this 
category no mention has been made of the school 
or the teacher for the reason that it must first be 
determined whether the school is a part of the 
social process. 

Educators have been and are deeply concerned 
as to the causes that lie behind the large exodus of 
pupils from the schools each year. Statistics show 
that less than sixty per cent of the children of 

(37) 



38 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

school age are actually attending school with any 
degree of regularity. Furthermore many of these 
attend because of the diligence of the truant offi- 
cer. Legislatures surround the schools with a cor- 
don of laws but some pupils break through the lines 
with the connivance of parents some of whom go so 
far as to give false testimony as to the ages of their 
children. 

Indeed, some parents have gone to the ex- 
treme of changing the date of birth as recorded 
in the family Bible. Juvenile courts have meted 
out punishment to parents and children in an ef- 
fort to interdict this exodus from the schools but it 
still persists. Parents implore school officials to 
grant to their children the documents that will ab- 
solve them from school attendance. Many parents 
are glad to have their children discontinue school 
work in order to serve as apprentices, and make 
great Sacrifices for them* not realizing that the 
school is a thing of value and might prove the bet- 
ter investment. 

Teachers make many visits to homes to per- 
suade parents to keep their children in school. 
Orators, statesmen, editors, and poets extol and 
magnify the work of the schools but truancy 
continues. Schools for truants, continuation 
schools, and retardation schools trace their ex- 
istence, in large measure, to truancy. The shop, 
the factory, the store employ no truant officers. 
Laws are enacted to keep children out of the factory 



SOCIAL PROCESS AND THE TEACHER. 39 

but none to keep them in. Absence from the fac- 
tory is never brought to the attention of the juvenile 
court. Designing parents are not contriving sinis- 
ter ways of luring their children away from their 
tasks in the shop or the store. 

These things would seem to prove that, by many 
people, the school is not, as yet, regarded as a part 
of the social process. When it is so regarded many 
changes for the better will follow. People will then 
pay taxes for schools as freely as for battle-ships, 
standing armies, and turnpikes. The purchase of 
school-books will not be regarded as an extra ex- 
penditure but a natural one, the same as the pur- 
chase of food and clothing, and the teacher will be 
regarded as a necessity and not a pensioner upon 
the bounty of the community. And, when she is so 
regarded, her salary will be made adequate and 
measureably commensurate with the demands made 
upon her. Indeed, the expenses for schools and 
equipment will be accounted a part of the regular 
budget, in every home. 

The adoption, final and complete, of the school 
as a part of the social process will come only when 
school officials and teachers make it such and this 
can be done by making the school a part of the 
day's work — by making the interests and activities 
of the morning merge into the activities of the 
school and these activities, in turn, issue forth into 
the further activities of the day. At first this may 
seem impossible or, at least, impracticable. True, 



40 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the interests of the pupils may be diverse but they 
have enough interests in common to form a work- 
ing basis. These common interests avail on the 
play-ground and can be made to avail as well in the 
school-room. The teacher who is wise enough and 
versatile enough to weave the threads of interests 
that are common to all the children into the fabric 
of the school regime has made a beginning in the 
right direction. These common interests will vary 
according to locality but they can be readily dis- 
covered by the alert teacher. 

The snow-storm, the heavy rain, the flood, the 
wind-storm that demolished fences and buildings, 
the frost that injured fruit and crops, the accident 
in the neighborhood, the strike, the election, the ball 
game, the circus, these are typical of the interests 
that children will bring into the school morning 
after morning. Now, if the teacher has the skill 
and the wisdom to begin with these interests in in- 
augurating the work of the day, she will be obeying 
the suggestions of the books that tell us that our 
teaching should begin with the child's native ten- 
dencies and interests. 

The lesson of the class in reading may be 
changed and the one chosen that will bear upon 
the paramount interests of the morning. The 
first snow of the year would suggest Lowell's 
poem "The First Snow-Fair' and the descrip- 
tions of the snow-storm by both Emerson and 
Whittier. Then might naturally follow conferences 



SOCIAL PROCESS AND THE TEACHER. 41 

or compositions on preparing for winter and each 
child would make some contribution from the ex- 
periences of his home. Such exercises would give 
pupils information for the home-circle and it would 
certainly become a topic of conversation in the 
evening for all members of the family. Thus the 
school and the home come to have interests in com- 
mon for that day, provided the teacher has the ma- 
terial at her command and uses it with skill. 

On election day the teacher with foresight will 
have a sample ballot displayed in the school-room in 
order to have the interest continue throughout the 
day, for it is certain that the election will be dis- 
cussed in the homes that evening and the children 
will understand and take part in the discussion. In- 
cidentally, the teacher is preparing the pupils to 
vote intelligently later on in life. 

One morning, on her way to school, a teacher 
saw a group of her pupils about a steam-roller that 
had been brought to the neighborhood to be used in 
the work of paving a street. When school opened 
she began at once with the steam-roller, asking 
questions as to its use, the advantage of using it, 
the motive power used, and others of like import, 
and, when a question was asked that the pupils 
could not answer, she delegated to two boys the 
task of investigating the machine still further and 
reporting to the school. That evening many fathers 
were surprised and pleased to find their children so 
well informed on the subject of steam-rollers. 



42 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Along with a knowledge of the machine the children 
had learned respect for the men who were directing 
the machine and those who were laying the pave- 
ment and all these men, in turn, were pleased that 
both the teacher and the pupils were interested in 
them and their work. That school made a large 
gain that day in public esteem. 

On the day after a President had been inaugu- 
rated the teacher of a class in United States history 
was asking many question concerning Andrew 
Jackson, the members of his cabinet, and the per- 
sonnel of his "Kitchen Cabinet" but made no refer- 
ence to the new President and the men who would 
probably be nominated as members of his official 
family, although the recitation was in progress 
within an hour of the time when the nominees 
would be confirmed. The evening papers, of course, 
published the names and biographical sketches of 
the new Cabinet officers but the pupils of that class 
had been studying another cabinet and so were not 
prepared to enter into the all-absorbing topic of 
conversation in the family circles. That teacher 
lost an opportunity to connect the home and the 
school in a vital way and, also, an opportunity to 
make the school a part of the social process. 

A city superintendent asked many of the mer- 
chants in his city to furnish him a list of arith- 
metical problems connected with the various lines 
of business in which they were engaged and they 
complied with his request. 



SOCIAL PROCESS AND THE TEACHER. 43 

After arranging and classifying these problems 
he had them printed, with the name of the author 
appended to each problem, and had the teachers 
use them as supplementary work. The work in 
arithmetic was not less but more thorough because 
of the use of these problems and the interest in the 
work of the schools by the merchants and their 
families was markedly increased, and intensified. 
The reflex influence upon the teachers was whole- 
some, also, in that they came to realize more fully 
that the point of view of the parents is worthy of 
consideration. 

Sometimes it happens that a child receives help 
at home that does not tally, in form, with the rules 
given in the book and teachers have been known to 
disparage and discredit the work of the parents. 
A polite note, thanking the parents for their help 
and co-operation and explaining, if necessary, how 
the process of the book differs from theirs, would 
have been better for the relations subsisting be- 
tween home and school. The parents attended 
school years ago and since leaving school have been 
concerned with other interests and the teacher has 
daily opportunities to enlist their co-operation and 
sympathy by projecting the life of the school into 
the life of the home through the children. The 
child is the bond of union between the two and will 
unite them in sympathetic interest under the guid- 
ance of a wise teacher. 

The subject of commerce comes in the geography 



44 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

lesson for tomorrow, let us say. The chances are 
that every home that is represented in the school 
is more or less interested in commerce in one or 
more of its phases — some in products, others in 
processes. The farmer's child knows and can tell 
about corn, wheat, hogs, cattle, sheep, eggs, chick- 
ens, butter, milk, potatoes and other products of the 
farm that are a large element in commerce. The 
miner's child is conversant with coal, or iron ore, 
or other products of mines. The railroad man's 
child can give important information touching the 
whole matter of transportation in all its many 
phases. The children of the grocer, the miller, the 
baker, the merchant, the carpenter, the black- 
smith, the mason and the manufacturer are glad to 
tell how their fathers obtain and handle the various 
products of farm, or mine, or forest. 

The content of the word enlarges for each child 
constantly through contributions from class-mates 
and the study goes on like a fine game in which each 
one has a part. The children naturally seek addi- 
tional information at home and this is gladly given 
by the fathers who are able to give first-hand facts. 
These facts are reviewed and correlated by the pu- 
pils with constant reference to the text-book and 
the text-book thus becomes a living thing, ready 
and able to serve the purposes of the school. 

Moreover, the school and home are working in 
unison at the same problem and the work of each is 
reinforced and clarified by the work of the other. 



SOCIAL PROCESS AND THE TEACHER. 45 

There is no antagonism, for their interests are the 
same and the fathers will visit the school as they 
pass by to show their interest and appreciation. The 
spirit of co-operation obtains in that community and 
the school has made an advance toward the social 
process. 

The home interests can be made the bases for 
composition work and the task of checking up the 
facts can be done by parents, at the teacher's sug- 
gestion, before the final revision is submitted to 
the school. The story that is told at school can 
he told again at home and comments from members 
of the family can be reported at school. 

Enough has been said to show that the life 
interests of the child and his school interests may 
be made to touch at many points and that the in- 
terests of school may be made to merge into the 
interests of the home. The teacher finds here a 
great opportunity and a large responsibility. To 
accomplish this will require thought, much study, 
skill, tact, industry, sympathy, scholarship, perse- 
verance, and patience. 



CHAPTER SIX. 

SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 

To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first. 

— Shakespeare. 

THE blacksmith who, through ignorance, or 
carelessness, or other cause, fails to execute 
his task properly in shoeing the horse, is 
guilty of an offence not only against the owner of 
the horse but, also, against the community at large. 
The horse goes lame and the driver is thus unable to 
reach his destination on time with his load of food 
products ; and the dealer can not redeem his promise 
to his customers. Hence inconvenience if not 
actual suffering results. The loss to society is 
many times what the blacksmith receives for his 
services and, besides, this loss is irreparable. If 
the blacksmith should be fined for every such of- 
fence he would soon find himself in financial straits. 
But even that would not repair the damage resulting 
from his inferior workmanship. 

When the pharmacist puts a wrong ingredient 
into the prescription which he is compounding, 
society suffers but has no adequate recourse. His 
license might be revoked and a heavy penalty im- 
posed, but the victims of his mistake would not 

(46) 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 47 

thereby be reinstated to their former condition of 
health and happiness. His regret is deep and abid- 
ing but the effects of his error remain unchanged. 

The farmer who raises only fifty bushels of 
corn per acre on land that is capable of a produc- 
tion of a hundred bushels per acre, under proper 
cultivation, offends against society. He produces 
but half a crop and consumers must, therefore, pay 
a double price for food; and this works hardship 
and suffering, without, in any degree, increasing 
the farmer's income. He may claim that the land 
is his own and that he may do with it what he likes 
— that he need not farm it at all unless it suits his 
own pleasure. Granting the validity of his conten- 
tion, it still remains true that he is an offender 
against the community in which he lives, and the 
community can not relieve itself of the burden 
resulting from his inefficiency. 

In his book, "Education and the Larger Life," 
the author, C. Hanford Henderson, says: "It is 
immoral for a man to do less than his best," and 
yet this farmer is accounted a moral and upright 
man. He pays his debts promptly, goes to church 
regularly, contributes to benevolence, is kind to 
people all about him — but produces only fifty bush- 
els of corn per acre. Waiving the question of 
morals, it is evident that in social efficiency he falls 
short. He might feed two people where he now 
feeds but one. His neighbor, on the same kind of 
land and with no better appliances, produces a hun- 



48 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

dred bushels of corn to his fifty. Judged by the 
standards of social efficiency he is but half the man 
he might be and ought to be. 

Efficiency has come to be the slogan of educators 
everywhere and, it must be evident, that without 
efficiency there can be no social efficiency since 
social efficiency is the efficiency of the individual 
projected into community life. Robinson Crusoe 
was efficient but he was socially efficient only to a 
very limited extent. Had there been people about 
him, his ingenuity, perseverance, skill, and patient 
industry would have made him a valuable member 
of society. 

Efficiency, then, must become a prime consider- 
ation in the school if it is to transform boys and 
girls into men and women who are socially efficient. 
The teacher, however, needs to have a clear notion 
of what efficiency really means or different schools 
and different teachers will work at cross-purposes. 
The banker criticizes the schools because boys who 
have completed the work of the grammar grades 
can not add a column of figures correctly. The 
merchant complains that girls with like training 
can not make change correctly. The business man 
finds the girl deficient in spelling and does not em- 
ploy her. The same man finds the boy unable to 
write clear and correct English and looks further 
for an assistant, wishing, meanwhile, that the 
schools would eliminate some of the "frills" and 
stress the fundamentals. High school graduates 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 49 

and even college graduates are passed by in this 
man's quest for an assistant, and for the same 
reasons. It is evident, therefore, that the business 
world, with good right, expects the schools to ac- 
complish a few definite things, and all these things 
will be found in the category of qualifications for 
social efficiency. 

The extremist demands that his boy be taught a 
trade so that he may not be compelled to serve an 
apprenticeship in shop or factory. Many parents 
want their children to step from the school into 
lucrative employment without further expenditure 
of time or money. Commercial courses, trade 
courses, and co-operative courses are working 
toward this end. 

The more conservative man asks, merely, that 
the schools give to his child the training and knowl- 
edge that all boys and girls and all men and women 
ought to have, adding that, if the schools will give 
such training as will issue in efficient manhood and 
womanhood, then efficient blacksmithing or farm- 
ing, and efficient nursing or dress-making, will be a 
comparatively easy matter and can come later. 
This man's contention is that living is a man's 
vocation and blacksmithing his avocation and that 
he should prepare for his vocation first. 

There must, therefore, be some things that all 

will agree upon as being fundamental. Now we 

have only to cast about us for the mistakes in 

society that result in loss of property, inconveni- 

4 



50 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

ence, and suffering and trace these mistakes back 
to their sources in order to know, in the main, what 
these fundamentals are. A railroad president says 
that, if we could eliminate the human element, there 
would be no more railroad wrecks. This seems 
equivalent to saying that man can make a machine 
but can not operate it effectively after he has made 
it. It really means that all wrecks can be traced to 
a mistake of some person less efficient, perhaps, 
than the maker of the machine with which he has 
to do. Four men on a railway train have in their 
care the lives of a hundred people and property 
whose value is many thousands; and the safety of 
these people and this property depends upon the 
ability of these four men to read, understand, and 
execute orders that are written in plain English. 
And yet the daily press gives the gruesome details 
of wrecks that were due to the failure of these four 
men to do this simple thing. If the wreck could 
have been averted by so doing, it would have been 
better for society and for the railroad company as 
well to have pensioned these four men for fifty 
years. 

When all teachers come to realize that the 
thought processes which they are striving to gen- 
erate in the minds of their pupils may, in time, 
operate to prevent railroad accidents, and a thou- 
sand other mistakes that bring disaster and that 
are due to defective thinking, then the lesson in 
arithmetic, or grammar, or geography, or algebra, 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 51 

will have for them a new and more vital signif- 
icance. With such far-reaching effects in mind the 
value of the school subject, whatever it is, as a 
means far transcends its value as an end. 

Clear, thorough, accurate thinking is the price- 
less talisman that must be sought in every nook and 
cranny of every subject in all schools of whatever 
grade. The man or the woman who thinks in a 
clean-cut and straight line in any and all circum- 
stances is liberally educated and is socially efficient. 
Such a man at a fire saves more property than the 
forty others who do not think straight. In the 
time of flood he is the man who organizes men 
and means for effective work. In a panic he is the 
man who allays excitement and marks out the path 
to safety. When accidents occur he is the man to 
whom others come for suggestions and directions. 
He is an efficient and, therefore, an effective man 
because his thinking is clear, accurate and thorough. 

The boy in school studies drawing. In the 
course of time he makes an accurate drawing of one 
of the parts of a machine; from this drawing he 
makes a pattern; with this pattern he forms a 
mould; and into this mould he pours the metal. 
Then, he combines the castings thus produced into a 
machine that does effective work and we know that 
his thinking was clear, accurate, and thorough. 
Had his thinking stopped short of the finished 
machine it would have lacked the element of 
thoroughness. Had the machine failed to work 



52 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

when completed we would know that his thinking 
lacked accuracy. We know it was clear and logical 
seeing that it progressed, stage by stage, from the 
incipient drawing to the work for which the ma- 
chine was designed. 

The same end may be attained by means of work 
in composition. Indeed, architecture and engineer- 
ing are composition work. In the class in compo- 
sition, no matter what the language, whether 
English, Latin, German, or French, the pupil must 
consider materials, combinations, and correct 
forms, until, at length, he has a finished sentence 
that does the work for which it was constructed, 
conveying thought clearly, accurately, and thor- 
oughly. If we can so train our pupils that they will 
do this sort of thinking, day by day, it will become 
habitual in time and we need not then be greatly 
disturbed as to whether the doctrine of formal dis- 
cipline has or has not been proved. We know that 
the habit will not desert them when they enter 
upon the work of the shop, the farm, the office, or 
the study. 

In this connection the teacher does well to re- 
alize that the kind of work the pupil is willing to 
accept from himself is the measure of his advance 
in any subject and not the kind which the teacher 
may be willing to accept from him. If the boy is 
willing to accept seventy per cent, work from him- 
self, then that becomes the measure of his efficiency, 
both in school and out of school and the thirty per 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 53 

cent, of deficiency may lead to mistakes that will 
bring disaster in the community, later on, even 
though the teacher calls seventy the passing grade. 
The thirty per cent, is the alarming symptom in the 
case of this pupil seeing that he rejoices that he is 
permitted to go on without it — to have this thirty 
per cent, clipped from his efficiency. 

If the teacher can so organize the activities of the 
school as to lead this pupil to the point where he will 
not accept any work from himself that is not clear, 
that is not accurate, and that is not thorough, then 
she has a warrant for the feeling that it is safe to 
give him a place among the workers in society. She 
may feel assured that he will not become a human 
derelict but rather a positive force in community life. 
If he is a farmer he will produce a hundred bushels 
of corn per acre because of his habit of thinking. 
Moreover, he will be able to make tests for efficiency 
not only in the soil he cultivates, but also in every 
machine, every animal, and every fowl on his farm. 
Efficiency will supplant inefficiency in every detail 
of his work in order to bring greater productive- 
ness. His orchards will teem with fruit because of 
his thorough, accurate, and clear thinking. Every 
phase of his farm work will yield obedience to his 
power of thinking. 

It has often been said that poverty is no crime. 
This may be true in the concrete, but, in the ab- 
stract, the question is debatable, to say the least. 
We have arable land enough in our country to fur- 



54 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

nish food and clothing for millions of people in 
excess of our present population, and yet appeals 
are made every day in behalf of thousands who are 
hungry and ill-clad. If all farms and all farmers 
could be advanced, in efficiency, to the limits of 
their possibilities; if all inefficiency as represented 
in prisons, alms-houses, and other institutions for 
dependents could be transformed into efficiency; in 
short, if all the people of our land could be endowed 
with the power to do clear, accurate, and thorough 
thinking poverty would soon become a thing of the 
past. 

All this has nothing whatever to do with Utopia 
but it does have to do with the every-day work of 
the school in fostering the spirit of social efficiency. 
We have agencies in vast numbers for mitigating 
the asperities of poverty, and misfortune, but upon 
the school falls the responsibility, in large measure, 
of diminishing poverty, and distress, and depend- 
ence; and this can be done best by eliminating the 
causes. These causes are many and varied but they 
will vanish as we increase the efficiency of all the 
people. 

The schools are already doing much in this line. 
Every school garden makes a contribution to social 
efficiency by rendering idle land productive and in- 
culcating in boys and girls the principles of self- 
reliance, self-respect, and self-support — three of the 
foundation stones of social efficiency. The corn 
contests that have become conspicuous among inci- 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 55 

dental school activities, are potent in the same line. 
The same is true of the employment bureaus in the 
schools of many cities. All these agencies are to be 
commended because they are working in the right 
direction. Home economics should have special 
commendation for the direct and reflex influence 
upon home life. It tends to dignify and even 
glorify work and baking a loaf of good bread now 
amounts to an accomplishment. Many school girls 
now make their own graduating outfits and take a 
worthy pride in their achievement. 

Another illustration may be given to reinforce 
what has been said on the subject of clear 
thinking. 

A mother administered poison to her child in- 
stead of medicine. By this mistake she disturbed 
the peace of mind and order of an entire neighbor- 
hood, causing a score of people to turn aside from 
their regular constructive work to mitigate, so far 
as possible, the effects of a mistake that had no 
possible justification. Such a mistake is said to be 
due to carelessness but carelessness is nothing other 
than beclouded thinking. Had this mother thought 
clearly, accurately, and thoroughly her mistake 
would have been impossible. It would be worth 
while to inquire into her school experience and dis- 
cover, if possible, the character of her thinking, as 
a pupil. It would certainly seem less than kind to 
hold her teachers responsible for her mistake but 
responsibility rests somewhere. The chances are 



56 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

greatly in favor of its resting in the thirty per cent 
rather than in the seventy per cent. She will not 
repeat this particular mistake but she will make 
others so long as her thinking is not clear and 
direct. True, thoughtul people sometimes make 
mistakes, but the mistake proves the presence of a 
kink in their thinking. The more thorough the 
training in thinking the fewer the chances for mis- 
takes. 

Temperance is commonly regarded as a moral 
question and so it is but it is also an economic ques- 
tion. The man who muddles his brain with intox- 
icants reduces the average of clear thinking in the 
community and so is an offender against society. 
His brains are an asset of society and he has no 
right, as a cooperating member of that society, to 
cause any asset of the community to depreciate in 
value. Society safeguards his life and his property 
and the tenets of reciprocity and cooperation de- 
mand that he give in return the best of which he is 
capable. He must not diminish his own efficiency. 
He must not divert the efficiency of others into un- 
productive channels. He must be continuously an 
asset to society and never a liability. If his think- 
ing is right he will be intent upon keeping his effi- 
ciency at the maximum all the while in the interests 
of the community. 

The inference from the foregoing is clear. The 
schools may not be able to produce lawyers, physi- 
cians, milliners, pharmacists, carpenters, ministers, 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY. 57 

and bankers but it is their high privilege to produce 
young men and young women who have been trained 
to accuracy and thoroughness in the full meaning 
of these terms and from such young men and young 
women the arts, trades, and professions may be 
safely recruited. 



CHAPTER SEVEN. 

SCHOOL AIMS. 
Not failure, but low aim, is crime. — Lowell. 

THE aims in school work are both immediate 
and ultimate. The immediate aim has to 
do with the day's tasks, including lessons, 
recitations, examinations, grades, and, indeed, the 
entire school regime. The inexperienced teacher 
finds these matters absorbing her attention so com- 
pletely that she has little or no time to devote to any 
other aim than the immediate. Especially is this 
true if her teaching experience follows close upon 
her experience as a pupil with no intervening pro- 
fessional training. The solving of problems, the 
parsing and analyzing, and the memorizing of 
names and dates in history were so all-impor- 
tant in her life as a pupil that, most naturally, 
she carries a feeling of their importance over 
into her experience as a teacher. She feels that 
she is on trial and must vindicate her right to 
a place at the teacher's desk and, hence, to her 
the immediate aim looms large before her. 

In some way she must induce her pupils to study 
so as to recite well, so as to win good grades, so as 
to prove that the teacher is a success and is worthy 

(58) 



SCHOOL AIMS. 59 

of re-appointment. In her view of the matter the 
grades are the sine qua non in teaching, nor does it 
ever occur to her that they may be the court of last 
resort for mediocrity. Just now her reputation and 
possible advancement seem to depend upon them 
and, hence, their supreme importance. Temptations 
constantly beset her pathway to give each pupil the 
benefit of every doubt so as to elevate the grades. 
The comments of parents on the cards that are sent 
for their inspection are eagerly scanned and, of 
course, she knows that the grades are their only 
basis for forming judgments as to her work. In 
the presence of high grades former criticisms are 
repealed and censure is changed into praise. How- 
ever, in the process of evolution, she makes some 
rare discoveries and, among them, that grades are 
but historical records with no more intrinsic value 
than cancelled street car tickets that merely indi- 
cate the volume of business transactions. The 
money that conductors deposit at the office repre- 
sents the real value of these transactions, while the 
tickets are ultimately burned. 

In this process of evolution she learns to dis- 
tinguish between what is major and what is 
minor, between fictitious and real values, and 
between lessons and education. She comes to know 
that the real soul of her work is greater than all 
the recitations and grades, greater than books, 
and greater, even, than the system of which she 
is a part. For her, sight has expanded into vision 



60 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and she is able to estimate things in their right 
relations and proportions. She sees that system 
is necessary but not great enough to be spelled 
with a capital nor to become an object of worship. 
She sees that lessons, recitations, and grades are 
but convenient auxiliaries in the educative process 
and that real education is independent of all these. 
She recalls the teaching of Christ and Socrates, 
whose methods rose above and beyond the need for 
these helps, yet still availed to direct the trend of 
men's thoughts and conduct. 

Among the aims of school work the one most 
commonly mentioned is character, but there is no 
definition of the term that is universally accepted. 
One of the most recent attempts at a definition is by 
Dr. Arthur Holmes, who says, "Character is the 
total customary reaction of an individual to his en- 
vironment." In this definition the words total and 
customary are highly important. In Latin the word 
mos signifies habit and its plural mores signifies 
character. According to the translations of these 
two words character is the sum of all the habits of 
an individual. This interpretation seems to be in 
close accord with the definition just quoted, if we un- 
derstand customary to be synonymous with habitual. 
The child reacts upon six times nine, again and 
again, until the habit groove is formed and, then, he 
uses the table at will in all his arithmetical opera- 
tions. 

Similarly, he reacts upon a moral precept re- 



SCHOOL AIMS. 61 

peatedly until the habit is formed. His conduct may- 
deviate from this precept but the habit will act as a 
barrier and the deviation will be more difficult be- 
cause of this habit. Deviation will be possible only 
when other habits carry this one down in the strug- 
gle for supremacy. One person spells the word sep- 
arate correctly, without conscious effort, because his 
early reactions were upon the letters that form the 
word. Another person always has trouble with the 
word because, in his early reactions, the letter e 
somehow obtruded itself. 

In this view of the matter, character formation 
begins with the child in its cradle and depends, very 
largely, upon early training in all its ramifications 
and details. In time, this child may be so trained 
that he will spell accurately, read and speak accu- 
rately and fluently, discuss intelligently history, 
science, literature, mathematics, and language, re- 
acting upon all these instinctively and habitually. 
Then, too, his training may be such that it will func- 
tion in right conduct and he is then a scholarly, cul- 
tivated gentleman and, in consequence, a useful 
citizen; and his character is seen to be the total 
habitual reactions of the individual to his environ- 
ment. 

Some of the ultimate aims may be explained, 
perhaps, by means of definitions. The first of these 
is, Education is the process of enlarging the content 
of words. The words different people use look to 
be the same but their meaning is conditioned upon 



62 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

their content. The meaning which a word holds for 
one person differs greatly from the meaning which 
it holds for another. The child may be able to spell 
and to use in speech the words height and depth but 
it can not apprehend the meaning of these words as 
used by Saint Paul when he was trying to make 
clear to the Romans the greatness of infinite 
love. He says, "For I am persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be 
able to separate us from the love of God." 

In this passage we can feel the mind of the great 
Apostle straining through space, past the moon, past 
the sun ninety-three millions of miles away, past the 
stars that seem but points of light, on toward other 
stars whose light has been struggling toward us 
since the beginning of time but will not reach our 
planet for another thousand years — and this mighty 
mental excursion he expressed in the one word 
height. Then, despairing of finding a limit in that 
direction, his mind swung through an arc of half a 
circle and traveled in the opposite direction, on and 
on, till it broke in the word depth. 

The child, to attain to Saint PauPs meaning 
of these words, must needs sit at the feet of 
Gamaliel. It can not use the words with his 
meaning until its mental powers come to be co- 
extensive with his. A man is just as large as his 
thoughts and his thoughts are measured by the 



SCHOOL AIMS. 63 

content of the words he uses in expressing his 
thoughts. One may speculate, at will, upon the 
process of training that led the Apostle from his 
early concept of the word height to the content of 
the word as he used it in the letter to the Romans. 

The child learns in the geography that the sea 
is a large body of water, recites the fact correctly, 
and receives a perfect grade. But this is simply 
the beginning in the process of enlarging the con- 
tent of the word. In time, the content of this word 
will include about all that goes by the name of 
physical geography, much of geology, much of 
meteorology, much of botany and agriculture. Be- 
sides all these it will include much of what we know 
as commerce which, in itself, is a term of stupen- 
dous import. 

In the course of his study the pupil will find 
that the sea, in the form of rain, snow, and ice, 
has carried away mountains and spread them out 
in the form of plains and valleys whose fertility 
supplies food and clothing for millions of people. 
He finds, also, that these products of the soil form 
the cargoes of trains and ships in every part of the 
world. By the processes of evaporation and pre- 
cipitation he finds the sea giving nourishment to 
fields, orchards, gardens, and vineyards and so 
ministering to the needs of every table. He finds 
that the crops of wool and cotton are dependent 
upon the sea and that it is, therefore, the agency 
that supplies his clothing. Even the coal that 



64 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

warms his home will be suggestive of the sea 
as the content of the word enlarges. If, by chance, 
he should read Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea," or Kip- 
ling's "Captains Courageous," he will find occasion 
to revert to his geography definition of the sea as a 
large body of water but with a meaning greatly 
intensified. 

The word patriotism affords another illustra- 
tion. In the child's early experience with the word 
it signifies flags and pyrotechnics for one day of the 
year. Later on, it may include soldiers marching 
to music. Of course, soldiers suggest wars and to 
the child's mind nothing is patriotic that does not 
concern itself with war in some of its aspects. To 
him the soldier is the only patriot and he is glad 
he is a boy because the possibilities of becoming 
a patriot lie before him. 

If he is well taught, however, this child will 
know, in time, that whatever serves to commend 
his country to the favor and admiration of peo- 
ple in other lands is a form of patriotism, that 
even such a simple matter as spelling is patriotic. 
If all the people in our country were deficient 
in the matter of spelling other peoples would 
laugh at us; flbut if no one of our people were 
thus deficient they would admire us. The traveler 
abroad who uses incorrect English gives his au- 
ditors an unfavorable impression of all Amer- 
icans. The American woman in Paris who displayed 
ignorance of the history of her own country could 



SCHOOL AIMS. 65 

not atone for this breach of patriotism by waving 
flags or exploding fire-crackers. 

Still further enlarging the content of the word 
will cause it to include good roads, well-tilled fields, 
attractive houses and barns, good fences, attractive 
school buildings and grounds, orchards that are well 
cared for — in short, all the details of our civiliza- 
tion that tend to prove that Americans are intel- 
ligent, industrious and progressive, and that they 
have a feeling for the beautiful as well as for the 
useful. 

By this same process of enlargement the word 
art may start with the Sunday supplement and ex- 
pand until it includes the great masterpieces, The 
Night Watch, Mona Lisa, Captive Andromache, 
Hope, Sistine Madonna, Madonna of the Chair, 
Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, on to the very acme 
of art, The Sistine Ceiling. So, likewise, the con- 
tent of the word music may begin with the simplest 
forms and finally include the productions of the vir- 
tuoso, of Handel, of Hayden, of Mozart, of Bach, 
and Beethoven; and the word literature may be 
made to grow through all gradations till it includes 
Milton, Shakespeare, Virgil, Homer, and the Bible. 

Another of the ultimate aims may be forecast 
in the following definition: Education is the proc- 
ess of shifting from egoistic to altruistic motives, 
or, as usually expressed, education is a preparation 
for service. No one who is not able and willing to 
give service is truly educated, for all true education 

5 



66 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

takes into account the rights and interests of our 
neighbors. The parable of the Good Samaritan 
forcibly illustrates this view. Much of the present 
social unrest may be traced to the desires of a com- 
paratively small class of people who would live with- 
out service. Such a desire is unsocial and undemo- 
cratic. 

Social equity (not equality) demands that every 
person shall do his part toward furthering the 
interest of society as a whole. The people who 
have lived without giving service have ever been a 
menace to society. Hence, education must presup- 
pose service and make preparation accordingly. 
Children are dependent upon others for food, cloth- 
ing, and shelter and, naturally, think that these com- 
forts are theirs by inherent right. They know of no 
reason why parents, relatives, and friends should 
not come gladly and lay the choicest gifts at their 
feet. This is the attitude of childhood and society 
encourages this attitude because children are help- 
less to provide for themselves. The same attitude 
in adults is termed mendicancy and society looks 
upon it with disfavor. 

It follows, then, that, since society must provide 
for the needs of children because they are depend- 
ents, when these children have passed beyond the 
period of childhood they should not only be self- 
supporting but should render service to society 
in addition, in order to provide for the needs 
of other dependents. Edison and Burbank have 



SCHOOL AIMS. 67 

paid their way many times over and are vastly 
more useful to society than the parasites who claim 
the right to live off their incomes. With proper 
guidance, our pupils will wish to emulate the ex- 
amples of such men as Edison, Burbank, and Mar- 
coni, and will feel that all school work is helping 
them prepare for service to others. 

The boy will work at his arithmetic and algebra, 
all the while dreaming of some great feat of engi- 
neering that lies ahead, a bridge that spans the 
river across which millions shall travel in safety, 
a canal that joins the seas, or a tunnel through the 
mountains. The girl may be led to dream of the 
achievements for humanity of Florence Nightingale, 
Frances Willard, Clara Barton and Jane Addams 
and all her work will take on the colors of her 
dreams. She may dream of the discovery of a cure 
for tuberculosis and science will disclose to her its 
inmost secrets. With altruistic motives luring her 
on she becomes the founder of a hospital for chil- 
dren, or a nurse in her own hospital, or an artist 
proclaiming upon canvas the beauty and nobility of 
the larger life, or a singer (lifting thousands to 
nobler aspirations, or a missionary of sane and 
artistic home-life. 

Thus, through the potency of altruistic motives, 
every school study may be made to project itself into 
the future and concern itself with activities that will 
benefit an individual, a community, a state, or a 
nation. We all help to make our dreams come true 



68 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and so it will be with our pupils. The farmer lad 
who dreams of fifty bushels of wheat per acre will 
never rest until he has realized his dream. Failure 
will not daunt but merely delay him and the study 
of soil fertility, drainage, fertilizers, and methods 
of cultivation will become an obsession with him 
until his goal is reached. 

The final definition in illustrating the ultimate 
aim is the following: Education is the process of 
fitting people to employ their leisure time profit- 
ably. People are differentiated not so much by 
the kinds of work they do as by their methods of 
employing their leisure hours. Elihu Burritt was a 
blacksmith and, yet, became proficient in eleven 
languages. Henry John Roby was a business man 
in London and wrote his monumental Latin Gram- 
mar outside of business hours. The manner of 
spending leisure is the supreme test of men and 
women. 

With our many labor-saving devices it seems 
but natural to look forward to a time when 
the working day will be reduced to six hours. 
Whether such a reduction will prove a blessing or 
a curse to the working man depends upon how he 
spends the two hours thus subtracted from his 
working day. If he spends the time in recuperation 
of body and mind then his work will be more effi- 
ciently done and society will be the gainer. But if 
those extra hours enervate his body and mind then 
both himself and society will suffer loss from the 
change. 



SCHOOL AIMS. 69 

As we look about us we see more and more 
agencies coming into action for the purpose of 
entertaining people and one naturally infers that 
the thousands thus seeking and paying for mere 
entertainment lack the needful resourcefulness for 
supplying their own entertainment. The hours be- 
tween working and sleeping are the hours when 
mischief stalks abroad. Policemen are few during 
the day but numerous at night, for the reason that 
the hours of leisure are the hours of danger. 

If all the men and women who work in shops, 
factories, offices, and stores and on farms looked 
forward to the evening as a time for resuming the 
reading, or art, or music, or writing which they 
were obliged to discontinue in the morning in order 
to take up their daily tasks, then the world would 
be reformed in a single day. There would be no 
temperance question, for the saloon would have no 
patrons. There would be no gambling question, and 
no social evil question, and for the same reason. 

If the plans for the evening of all the men and 
women of a community should be disclosed it would 
be a simple matter to determine, from a review of 
these plans, whether that community would be bet- 
ter or worse the next day. If it should be found 
that the young woman who clerks in the store plans 
to spend her evening in drawing or music, or read- 
ing good books, we should readily conclude that her 
work and life would add to the general average for 
the community. If the farmer is planning to read 



70 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the Book of Job, we know at once that society will 
not suffer from his employment of his leisure hours. 
If another is eager to become a violin artist and 
plans to practice for two hours in the evening, her 
influence must be accounted positive. The same 
would be true of the young woman who devotes her 
time to the piano seeking the soul of melody in 
some great masterpiece. The cheap entertainment 
will look in vain for the young man who plans to 
read Tennyson's poetry in order to discover the 
religious convictions of the author and, also, the 
other young man who wants to discover for him- 
self a justification of the statement that the Psalms 
are poetical. The author of "Laddie" understands 
this whole matter full well and, in this delightful 
book, has given us a picture of home life that needs 
no extraneous aids to make every evening both 
profitable and pleasant. 

The teacher has it in her power to inculcate such 
habits as will redound to the happiness of homes 
and counteract tendencies toward unprofitable 
amusements. To this end she may use art, poetry, 
the drama, music, history, and literature. She needs 
only to get her pupils interested in Rosa Bonheur in 
order to incite to imaginary visits to the art gal- 
leries where her pictures are to be found. From 
such excursions they will return laden with treas- 
ures of fact and fancy. Their best acquisition, of 
all their treasures, will be their ability to entertain 
themselves for an entire evening. If the schools 



SCHOOL AIMS. 71 

will vouchsafe to the present generation of children 
this sort of training, their influence, in adult life, 
in the matter of employing their leisure hours profit- 
ably, will give emphasis to the saying, "Wisdom is 
justified of her children.'' 

A widow, who supported her three children by 
sewing, found that her eyes were failing and con- 
sulted a specialist. He advised her to discontinue 
her sewing but, when she explained that her chil- 
dren depended upon her sewing for food and cloth- 
ing, he compromised by directing her to put aside 
her work at the end of each hour, go to the window 
and, for five minutes, look at the far hills. She 
did this faithfully and at the end of a year found 
her eyesight completely restored. These ultimate 
aims are the far hills toward which the gaze of the 
teacher is directed. By holding her gaze upon these 
she gains a vision and, at the same time, her sight 
is clarified and strengthened. The daily work be- 
comes more effective because it holds in view these 
larger aims and scholarship is made to contribute to 
good citizenship. 



CHAPTER EIGHT. 

INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 



-but strong in will 



To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

— Shakespeare. 

BETWEEN the immediate aims in school work 
and the ultimate aims, some of which have 
already been indicated, may be found a 
large number of intermediate aims. These grow 
out of the immediate aims and reach on toward the 
ultimate aims. 

The immediate aims are recounted in the school 
and in the home every day, and are thus impressed 
upon the child with so much emphasis that he has 
but a vague and hazy notion as to the existence of 
any others. The father urges upon the son the 
necessity for diligent study in order that he may be- 
come proficient in arithmetic ; and the mother is no 
less insistent that her daughter shall not be negli- 
gent in the work in geography and grammar. These 
parents scan the reports of their children narrowly 
and note their standing in the studies in which they 
wish them to excel. The teacher urges diligence as 
a preventive of low grades at examination time, 

(72) 



INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 73 

and the child hears that knowledge is power long 
before he has the one or cares for the other. 

It is well enough to incite pupils to diligence 
in their school work, and to impress upon them the 
importance of a knowledge of the school branches, 
but both teachers and parents jeopardize the in- 
terests of pupils when they emphasize a knowledge 
of these branches as a mere acquisition rather than 
a tool with which to work. The mind is not a gal- 
lery to be adorned with mental furnishings, but 
rather a dynamo to which knowledge gives added 
power. Education is an ornament, to be sure, but 
that is an incidental phase. We expect education 
to multiply the child by ten, or one hundred, or a 
thousand, and, in this expectation, we are thinking 
of utility, both as relates to himself and to others. 
This, in no wise, underestimates or undervalues the 
cultural side of education. Indeed, the highest cul- 
tural value of knowledge comes through its use. 

Somewhere we read that it is not enough that 
people be good; they should be good for something. 
So with knowledge, It should be good for some- 
thing and never become complacent, and satisfied 
with itself. So, while we urge the acquisition oi 
knowledge, accuracy, thoroughness, and the like as 
proper aims in school work, we do well to lift our 
eyes from these, now and again, that we may catch 
a view of other aims above and beyond these into 
which these immediate aims merge. The teacher 
with a vision sees these immediate aims all the 



74 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

more clearly because of her vision, and, at the same 
time, sees the intermediate and the ultimate aims 
that stretch out before her pupils in the pathway 
of learning. 

Among these intermediate aims may be men- 
tioned the ability to make wise choices. People, who 
instinctively and habitually make wise choices, are 
liberally educated in all that makes for successful 
living. Indeed, people may be classified according 
to the choices they make. In the class in English, 
the pupils are encouraged to make choice of words 
that are elegant as well as correct, and, according 
to their choice of words, we classify their diction. 
This ability to choose the right words concerns itself 
with all the experiences of life and is, by no means, 
confined to school exercises. So the immediate aim 
in the way of acquiring proficiency in the use of 
English merger, naturally, into the intermediate 
aim. For the ability to choose words, with nice 
discrimination, enlarges into the ability to choose 
books, or, at least, it becomes one of the elements in 
a wise choice as regards literature. 

Children are making choices, in less or greater 
things, every waking minute of the day. They are 
choosing colors, or shapes, or sizes, or methods all 
the while. Every lesson presents opportunities for 
choices and no lesson is either prepared or recited 
that does not reveal the nature of these choices. One 
pupil is content with any word that will possibly 
pass inspection, while another continues the search 



INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 75 

for the exact word. One pupil solves just enough 
problems to insure a passing grade, while another 
perseveres to the very limit of the assignment. One 
works merely for the answer; another must have 
his work done artistically. One deals in generali- 
ties ; another must ferret out the details. One skims 
the surface ; another penetrates the sub-soil. 

Hence, it is, that, while the teacher is encour- 
aging her pupils in the line of thoroughness, she is, 
also, inculcating the habit of making right choices. 
The world judges us by our choices. Our guests 
judge us by the colors of our rugs and draperies, 
by the books and magazines which they find upon 
our tables, by the pictures that hang upon our walls, 
by the furniture in our homes, and by the appoint- 
ments, in general, of the house in which we live. 
We can as easily escape from our shadows as from 
our choices. High-grade books in the home betoken 
high-grade readers. Artistic pictures reveal the 
presence of connoisseurs. Our topics of conversa- 
tion, our diction, our amusements, our friendships, 
and our deportment are all passed in review and we 
are judged accordingly. 

It is quite worth while, then, for the teacher to 
hold this aim in mind throughout the school life of 
the child. If he leaves school with the ability to 
make wise choices in all matters pertaining to daily 
life, the teacher may well experience a feeling of 
gratification and gratulation that the influence of the 
school did not stop with a knowledge of school sub- 



76 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

jects, but projected itself into the life currents of 
the child, giving greater potency and grace to his 
attainments. 

Another of these aims is the cultivation of 
democracy. The American school is the most dem- 
ocratic institution in the world. Here sit and work 
together at common tasks children who represent 
all nationalities, all creeds, all colors, and all condi- 
tions. The child of poverty sits beside the child of 
affluence, and they become united in their efforts to 
surmount the same difficulties. The child of high 
degree and the child of low degree play at the same 
games and work over the same books. The Amer- 
ican school represents the flower and fruitage of the 
democratic spirit. The child, whose widowed mother 
bends over her manual tasks, day by day, in order 
to supply needful books and clothing, receives the 
same kindly treatment at the hands of the teacher 
as the most highly favored child in the school. The 
boy, who comes from a home of luxury, and the boy, 
who supports himself by hard work, lock arms at 
the schoolhouse door and go smiling to their lessons. 
The boy, whose speech betrays his foreign origin, 
finds a friend in his class who helps him in his 
efforts to master the intricacies of the English 
tongue. These manifestations of fraternal good-will 
bring joy to the teacher, for these boys are all her 
boys, these girls, her girls. 

Neither riches nor eminence can win special 
privileges. The poor boy is treated as well as the 



INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 77 

rich boy, but no better. The black boy is treated 
as well as the white boy, but no better. To treat the 
black boy better, would be an insult to his manhood 
and to his democratic spirit. He will brook no 
patronizing. If he can not win upon merit, he is 
willing to fail. Here, there is no aristocracy, save 
that of ability and industry. Here reign justice and 
fair play. 

The teacher knows that democracy can best be 
perpetuated through and by the schools. She feels 
that, if the sons of capital and labor work side by 
side, in the school, in agreeable companionship, they 
will be better able, in later years, to find a basis for 
relations of harmony. She finds as many common 
interests as possible for the boys and girls of all 
classes and conditions, knowing that, if they live and 
work together in the schools for twelve years, they 
will find many other common interests after leaving 
school, and will work in harmony for the good of 
society. She feels that her boys and her girls may 
help answer the prayer of Robert Burns : 

Then let us pray that come it may, 
As come it will for a' that, 
That sense and worth o'er a* the earth, 
May bear the gree, and a' that. 
For a' that, and a' that, 
It's coming yet, for a' that, 
That man to man, the warld o'er, 
Shall brothers be for a' that. 



78 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Still another of these aims is to develop the 
ability to see things in their right relations and pro- 
portions. This, in itself, is education, the sort of 
education that our pedagogical father, Aristotle, 
taught. A teacher once asked a group of boys 
whether, if the choice were presented, they would 
prefer fifty cents now or ten dollars ten years hence, 
and, almost without exception, they said they would 
prefer the fifty cents now. Their fathers and 
mothers would have given a different answer. 
Present desires fill the horizon of children. The 
future, whether it be a day or a year, is too far 
away for them. Their perspective is not yet devel- 
oped. To them major is now, and minor is every- 
thing else. They cry for the moon because it is a 
part of now. Their emotions are ephemeral. Tears 
and laughter are intermingled. To tell a child that 
he should learn a thing today because it will prove 
useful to him in years to come, is to speak to him 
in an unknown tongue. 

But, until he does learn right relations and pro- 
portions, he is still a child, no matter what the 
record of his age may be. When he can distinguish 
major from minor, in work, in values, in conduct, 
and in desires; when he appreciates the difference 
between great and small, between high and low; 
when he can read and emotionalize "The Psalm of 
Life," we may feel that our school is realizing this 
intermediate aim. At this stage, the pupil begins 
to realize that poverty and riches are relative terms, 



INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 79 

after all, and not absolute; that the rich man of 
today may be the poor man of tomorrow ; or that the 
rich man's wealth may be cloying his life today. He 
begins to see about him humble people who were 
once accounted great, and he institutes a search for 
real values. The sophistries of childhood are van- 
ishing, and bearing with them its delusions. This 
is not a plea for a curtailment of the period of child- 
hood. Far from it! There is far too much of that 
already. It is a plea that childhood may not be pro- 
longed beyond the age of childhood, that when the 
child becomes mature in years he may "put away 
childish things," and see things as a real man or a 
real woman should see them, in right relations and 
proportions. 

Still another aim is to insure such training as 
will enable the boy or girl to associate with culti- 
vated people with freedom and in comfort. The boor 
has a feeling of constraint and discomfort in the 
presence of people who are educated and refined, 
and, in consequence, seeks associations that are con- 
genial and agreeable. 

Deserters from drawing-rooms sometimes be- 
come recruits for saloons because of incompat- 
ibility in the matter of attainments. Wise are 
those fathers and mothers whose sons and daugh- 
ters are their companions, sharing all their joys 
and privileges. The boy will not long tolerate con- 
ditions that produce discomfort, and will abandon 
the most elegant home for the less elegant livery- 



80 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

barn, in quest of comfort. The ties of home become 
ineffective when he feels out of place among the 
guests in his mother's drawing-room, and any other 
place becomes a refuge. 

So, the teacher is performing a high mission 
when she is so training the boy in history that he 
will feel at ease among people who are discussing 
historical topics; or when she is inculcating in the 
girl such a love for and appreciation of literature 
that she will really enjoy the meeting of the literary 
club in her home and can make contributions to the 
program. The boy who is conversant with history, 
or science, or music, will seek the society of people 
of like inclinations, and the school is doing society 
a noble service in fitting the boys and girls for 
agreeable association with cultivated people. 

Finally, the school should aim to foster the right 
sort of pertinacity. The age needs men and women, 
not weaklings; and, in these times of transitions, 
this high service is demanded more than ever before. 
We read our history in vain if we fail to find the 
emphasis laid upon sterling manhood and woman- 
hood, upon moral courage, upon fiber. It is poor 
teaching of arithmetic that does not inspire the boy 
to persist in whatever task he essays to a final 
triumph. He scorns to be a "quitter" and the arith- 
metic tests his mettle and helps to form habits of 
perseverance. The two boys who wound, by hand, 
twenty-five miles of wire three times in constructing 
a wireless apparatus, may be safely trusted with 



INTERMEDIATE AIMS. 81 

large tasks that call for the sterling qualities of 
manhood. 

If school work fails to give fiber to the pupils, 
in some good degree, it is defective. It should make 
pupils strong, resolute, courageous, and capable of 
persevering to the end. These qualities will be 
called into requisition if they are to do the work of 
men and women, and the school work ought to be 
the best soil for the gKowth of such qualities. Hen- 
ley has well expressed this aim in his poem : 

INVICTUS. 

Out of the night that covers me, 
Black as the Pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 
For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 

I have not winced or cried aloud; 
Under the bludgeonings of Chance 

My head is bloody but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 
Looms but the Horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 

How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the master of my fate, 
I am the captain of my soul. 



CHAPTER NINE. 

THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 

Men of genius create masterpieces because they throw 
their whole life into the task, believe in it and love it with 
all their might. — Bishop Spalding. 

TEACHING implies leadership. The teacher 
is expected to organize, to direct, and to 
guide, and only a leader can hope to suc- 
ceed in work of this nature. Scholarship, alone, 
does not suffice in the school, important as we know 
it to be. The pastor of a church must be more 
than a theologian to be successful in his work. 
Every pupil in the school has an entity, an individ- 
uality all his own. He differs from every other 
pupil in many respects. His tastes are different; 
his habits of thought and action are different; his 
aspirations are different. All the different tastes, 
desires, and habits of all the pupils must be made 
to operate in harmony and this is a task for a leader. 
The diversity of the pupils is an asset of the 
school if only out of this diversity unity can be 
brought. Unless the spirit of unity obtains, chaos 
increases in geometric ratio with the advent of each 
additional pupil. The mother often has occasion 
to wonder how the teacher gets on so well with 
thirty children when she, herself, experiences so 

(82) 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 83 

much perplexity with her three. Her difficulty 
arises from the fact that she deals with her children 
as individuals and lacks the group idea in her deal- 
ings with them. The recruits who come into camp 
can not be made a part of the company formation 
until they have had special training in the awkward 
squad. They must first learn to move in concert 
with others, to sacrifice the individual to the group. 
The drillmaster finds his task difficult, for all these 
recruits have formed the habit of moving independ- 
ently on the farm, in the shop, or in the mine, and 
it requires patient, persistent effort to reconstruct 
their habits. In due time, they become a part of the 
company and a hundred men move as one in obe- 
dience to the direction of the leader. 

The teacher's task is much the same. She strives 
for the maximum of efficiency in her school with 
the minimum of friction and, to this end, must have 
her pupils move in unison. The group idea is para- 
mount ; but the school is at its best when the pupils 
act as a unit with no abatement of their individ- 
uality. The delicacy of the teacher's work lies in 
maintaining a just balance between the group and 
the individual. Herein, the school differs from the 
army. In the army the individual is more nearly 
lost in the group. 

To preserve this nice balance in the school re- 
quires skill of a high order, and the skill that 
can do this is worthy the name of leadership. 
The leader needs both sight and insight, tact, 



84 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

skill, knowledge, reserve power, and that inde- 
scribable quality known as personal magnetism. 
Leadership has opportunities for manifesting itself 
in each of the school activities. 

In considering a candidate for a position in his 
school a principal asked this question, "Can he step 
into a room of fifty boys and secure order without 
uttering a word?" In this question he was testing 
for leadership. This may seem a high standard but 
it is often reached, and those who reach it are in de- 
mand, their teaching powers being equal. From such 
teachers power exhales continuously, and this power 
pupils both recognize and respect. A teacher with 
such power does not need to be a martinet. She is 
both leader and friend, and these qualities comple- 
ment each other. In such a simple matter as con- 
sulting a dictionary leadership may be shown. The 
real leader hopes for the time when her pupils will 
no longer need her assistance and is working toward 
the fruition of this hope all the while. Therefore, 
she does not supply the meaning of the word to the 
pupil but shows him how to find it for himself. The 
easy way would be to define the word off-hand but 
the leader does not seek the easy way. She is ever 
seeking the best way. She seeks the final good of 
the pupil and not the line of least resistance. She 
does not remove all the obstacles from the path of 
the pupil ; on the contrary, she sets up obstacles in 
his path, at times, that are not beyond his strength, 
in order to develop effort and perseverance. 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 85 

It is no kindness to a child to help him over every 
difficulty. Instead of giving him fiber it tends to make 
him flaccid. He thrives on hopeful work, however 
hard it may be ; and work is always hopeful this side 
the point of discouragement. Society needs men 
and women who have courage, and perseverance, 
and confidence in their own powers. The teacher, 
who has the qualities of leadership, knows this well 
and directs the work of her pupils in accordance 
with this larger view. The leader has initiative and 
is not content to be a mere copyist, a follower of 
precedent. She prefers to be a maker of precedent 
rather than a follower. She likes to feel that there 
is distinctive work going on in her school that others 
will be glad to see and, possibly, imitate. She may 
have a distinctive plan of assembling and dismiss- 
ing pupils, that other teachers consider an improve- 
ment on their own. This proves her initiative. 

No set of rules can ever be made that will cover 
all the possibilities of the teacher's work. Some 
things must be entrusted to her own initiative and 
good sense; and the more initiative and good sense 
she has, the fewer rules will be needed. She need not 
be spectacular to prove that she has initiative ; quite 
the reverse. Thinking up right things to do is not 
a noisy process. The leader does these things to 
facilitate and make more effective the work of her 
school and not for the purpose of exploitation. She 
thinks carefully through all her problems and thus 
discovers better ways of solving them. A teacher 



86 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

of experience relates that once she required twenty- 
minutes to make fairly clear one of her topics but 
now does it better in two minutes. To such a teacher 
one way is good only until she finds a better, and 
she is constantly searching for the better. 

Once the school is well organized for effective 
and unified work, the teacher seeks to project the 
work and influence of the school into the homes. In 
unobtrusive ways she discovers the distinctive char- 
acteristics of the homes that are represented in the 
school and sets about making plans that will reach 
out to each home. In one she finds that general 
reading is virtually lacking and, with rare skill, 
seeks to remedy this lack. For the opening exercise 
she reads from her magazine up to a very interesting 
part of the story. The children are eager to read 
the conclusion of the story and when they have com- 
pleted it will ask for the loan of the magazine for 
the evening. She may not be able to have it reach 
the home upon which her interest centers on the 
first day but finally accomplishes her purpose and 
finds keen delight in the report that comes back to 
school. Then another magazine is used for the 
same purpose and the result is the same. 

This process continues, with alluring variations, 
until, at length, she feels that the same plan will 
work with a good book. Possibly, she tells part of the 
story, and reads other parts to arouse interest, but 
never completes the book. That must be done in the 
home if her plan is to become effective; hence, this 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 87 

book finally reaches that home and is read in the 
family circle, giving pleasure to every member of 
the household. In this way the reading habit is 
established in that home but the members of the 
family never suspect that they were led into this 
habit through a campaign that was deliberately 
planned by the teacher. On the contrary, they con- 
gratulate themselves upon their own initiative and 
wisdom in making these original discoveries in the 
field of literature. Nor does the teacher ever, either 
by word or look, give any intimation that the affair 
was of her planning. She prefers a position in the 
background. This is one of the characteristics of 
leadership. 

In the course of a few weeks, the leader feels 
that the time is opportune for a case of books 
in the school and plans accordingly. First, she 
makes a list of the books that she would like to 
have, and finds this list numbers fifty. There are 
twenty-five homes represented in the school, making 
an average of two books to each home. So, she 
talks the matter over with the school, in a general 
way, with no mention of titles or prices. For some 
days the school library is a topic of conversation 
among the pupils and in the homes, and both par- 
ents and children are curious as to what books the 
teacher would suggest. When interest has reached 
its height she writes her list on the board and 
wonders whether any of the parents would be will- 
ing to donate any of the booka in the list. Of 



88 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

course, she is wise enough to suggest that, in case 
any parent should feel inclined to make such dona- 
tions, the name of the donor in the book would give 
it added value. The next day one boy reports that 
his father will be glad to donate four books, giving 
their titles. This is announced to the school and 
these books are checked in the list on the board. 
The next day other homes report and checks are 
placed opposite the names on the blackboard; of 
course, these reports are carried back to all the 
homes and even indifferent parents hasten to send 
their names before the list is exhausted. When the 
list is complete there may still be a few people 
whose names do not appear in the list of donors. 

Up to this time no mention has been made of a 
book-case and as soon as this subject is broached 
the delinquent parents see an opportunity to atone 
for their apparent indifference, and, cooperating, 
they supply a better case than the teacher, herself, 
would have suggested. To each parent who con- 
tributes, the teacher writes a polite note expressing 
appreciation and gratitude in the name of the 
school; in consequence each one feels honored in 
having had a part in an enterprise that was at once 
so laudable and so productive of pleasure. This 
picture is not overdrawn but is true to life and finds 
its counterpart in many a school where there is 
leadership. 

Leadership does not confine itself to schools of 
any one grade, or size, or class. It is quite as effect- 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 89 

ive in the one-room school in the country as in the 
larger school of the city. The question may well 
be asked, Can leadership be acquired? and the 
answer must be affirmative. The promotions that 
come to pass in army, navy, and civic affairs con- 
firms the correctness of this answer. We find, also, 
biblical confirmation in the words, "Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over 
many things." 

In school affairs we find many exemplifications. 
The great leaders in educational affairs often revert 
to their experiences in district or village schools. 
From these positions they were promoted step by 
step, until they attained to their present positions, 
and promotion was always a recognition of their 
qualities of leadership. Leadership is one qualifi- 
cation of the teacher to which no bounds are set; 
and this fact must give encouragement to teachers 
of every grade. 

A further illustration of leadership is found in 
the methods in vogue in some communities for deco- 
rating the school-room with good pictures. Women, 
in general, are responsive to the artistic in all its 
manifestations. It is comparatively easy, therefore, 
to generate a community interest in art, and, espe- 
cially, that phase of art that concerns itself with 
pictures. Several women of the community, it may 
be, have more than a passing knowledge of the 
world's masterpieces, and copies of some of these 



90 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

may be found in their homes. These lovers of art 
readily combine around this common interest and 
soon attract others into their circle. This is the 
nucleus of an Art Club that will soon enlist the sym- 
pathy and cooperation of the women of the entire 
community. The natural object of their endeavors 
is the school. A committee visits the school and 
makes a report upon conditions and needs. Another 
committee reports on ways and means for meeting 
these needs. Voluntary contributions in pictures 
and in money come easily. More funds are obtained 
through entertainments, art exhibits, and lectures, 
until the school becomes an art gallery in embryo. 
Such movements are already in progress in many 
places and the school is the beneficiary of this 
praiseworthy work. Besides, so soon as the women 
of the community have secured even one picture for 
the school, they have a proprietary interest in the 
picture, and, therefore, in the school and their in- 
terest in everything pertaining to the school is 
quickened. No mention has been made of the 
teacher in connection with the formation of such 
an Art Club, but such organizations are not of spon- 
taneous growth. They require leadership to plant, 
cultivate, and nourish. The teacher does not need 
to be conspicuous. She holds no office, serves on no 
committee, handles no funds, and makes sugges- 
tions only upon invitation. Nevertheless, she is 
the real leader, since she has so organized and cor- 
related forces as to set free latent energy and direct 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 91 

it into right channels. The reflex influence upon the 
entire community is most wholesome, and the people 
become known far and near for their appreciation 
of art. Moreover, the school, itself, becomes noted 
for its large number of beautiful pictures and at- 
tracts many visitors from other communities. 

Just as the home is the expression of the mis- 
tress of that home, so the appointments of the 
school express the teacher. Every visitor judges 
the teacher by conditions in her school-room. If 
the walls are grimy and dingy, the pictures few, 
and cheap, and all hanging awry, and other decora- 
tions unsightly, no explanation will avail to banish 
the idea of shiftlessness from the mind of the 
visitor. But, if the room is clean and artistic; if 
there is a book-case filled with good books all class- 
ified and arranged in good order; if the walls are 
decorated with worthy pictures all artistically ar- 
ranged so as to afford the maximum of pleasure to 
the eye; if, in brief, the whole room betokens a 
home-like atmosphere, where tone, and grace, and 
beauty hold sway, then, the idea of leadership 
springs instinctively into the mind of the visitor, 
and is persistent. 

The social center movement affords an excellent 
opportunity for the exercise of leadership by the 
teacher. This movement has for its object the en- 
richment of civic and social life and is worthy of 
the best endeavors of all altruistic people. It seeks 
to make the school the focus of community interests 



92 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and this gives to the teacher a definite opportunity. 
The movement contemplates the utilization of all 
the powers and accomplishments of every individual 
for the profit and pleasure of the entire community 
and it is quite within the province of the teacher 
to discover all the agencies which may thus be util- 
ized. 

One family in the neighborhood may have a 
Victrola and the man will gladly transport it to the 
school and operate it for an evening for the pleas- 
ure of his neighbors. Incidentally, this may lead 
him to secure more and better records for the in- 
strument. Recitations and dialogues may be inter- 
spersed and the teacher will, naturally, assign these 
parts of the program to the children whose parents 
seem indifferent to the social center movement. 

In a description of the Farragut School in Ten- 
nessee, which is given in Bulletin No. 49, published 
by the United States Bureau of Education, may be 
found the following paragraphs : 

"On the last Friday night before each full moon 
there has been held at the schoolhouse, for the past 
five years, meetings called "moonlight socials." 
These are community gatherings to which all are 
welcome. The program varies from meeting to 
meeting. There is always a liberal allowance of 
music and usually a talk on a subject of general 
interest pertaining to some phase of farm and home 
life. Sometimes the talks are given by outside per- 
sons, from the state agricultural college or else- 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 93 

where. More often, however, there is a general dis- 
cussion of a selected subject, led by a few members 
of the community selected before the meeting. If 
the subject to be discussed deals (with technical 
phases of agriculture in which they are not inter- 
ested, the women will meet in another room and dis- 
cuss some problem of housekeeping. The discussions 
are made as practical as possible. 

"After the regular program is over the evening 
is given to general sociability, playing games, and 
singing familiar songs. Usually some sort of lunch 
is served. The domestic-science room has facilities 
which make the serving of a lunch very easy. 

"The meetings are well attended and have be- 
come a very important part of the community life. 

"Other evening meetings are held in the school- 
house on many special occasions. If the people of 
the community desire to get together for any pur- 
pose, the schoolhouse is always designated as the 
place of meeting. " 

The success of the first evening is a prophecy 
of many subsequent successes. Every person who 
contributes to these successes grows in community 
spirit and willingly cooperates with teacher and 
neighbors in aiding and abetting the movement. 
College students who are home for vacation will 
make valuable and willing contributions to the 
programs, and will thus bring to their friends and 
neighborhood the spirit of their college world. A 
spelling-bee may well occupy an evening, for there 



94 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

are men and women in the community who won dis- 
tinction in contests of this sort in by-gone days and 
are glad to give an exhibition of their prowess 
again. A story-telling contest will arouse interest 
and bring to light rare gifts that have been long in 
obscurity. 

Another evening may be devoted to the sub- 
ject of "The Best Magazine Story of the Month," 
and this will prove profitable both in its direct and 
in its reflex influence. Another evening may be de- 
voted to a neighborhood fair with ribbon prizes for 
the best loaf of bread, the best cake, the best roll 
of butter, or the best glass of jelly, and other home 
products for the girls, and similar prizes for prod- 
ucts of the farm, the shop, or the factory for the 
boys. The adults will, of course, act as judges and 
this sort of fair will serve as a preparation for the 
county fair. 

The resourceful teacher will find many other 
ways of bringing the people together for mutual 
profit and pleasure. Such development of com- 
munity spirit will redound to the advantage of 
the school in every phase of its work. It is the 
center of interest in that community and not a thing 
apart. The people know the teacher, and the 
pupils, and are conversant with the details of school 
work. Hence, the school comes to belong to them 
and not to the teacher and the board of education. 

Many teachers are exemplifying a high quality 
of leadership in the way of organizing parent- 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 95 

teacher associations. In some cities there is an 
association of this character in each school district. 
School officials are largely obedient to public senti- 
ment and, hence, the presence and activity of these 
associations soon result in better school conditions. 

The janitor may have been relying upon political 
favor and doing as little work as possible with no 
especial interest or enthusiasm. But, when he finds 
that his work is under inspection by the people of 
the district, he feels it necessary to arouse himself 
if he would retain his position. Hitherto, he may 
have smiled serenely at every suggestion from prin- 
cipal or teachers, thinking his place secure by vir- 
tue of political favor. But, now, he finds himself 
confronting a power greater than his political 
friend, an inexorable nemesis, and he plies his tasks 
with new unction. Political favor will not suffice 
when public sentiment is aroused, for politicians, 
themselves, are subservient to this sentiment. 
Hence, the appeal of the janitor to his political 
friend brings him no comfort, and cob-webs, grime, 
and debris depart from that school. He finds him- 
self the servant of the public, now, and heeds the 
demand to render a full measure of service for the 
salary he receives. 

These associations exert a salutary influence, 
also, upon those members of the board who are 
either negligent or recalcitrant. Such members find 
they must measure up to the standards and expec- 
tations of the people unless they would incur their 



96 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

displeasure. Hence, they are galvanized into life 
and action and the schools and teachers profit by 
their changed attitude. All teachers can exhibit 
leadership, in varying degrees, in movements of 
this character. No one need hold aloof; there 
is work for all. One can open her home for 
a meeting. Others can arrange a program and 
induce the right men and women to participate. 
Others can outline the general trend of the 
work that needs to be done and supply the 
speakers with the facts. Still others can interview 
editors so as to insure the publication of a report 
of the meeting. Their activity becomes infectious 
and very soon the people of the entire district are 
working together in the interest of school condi- 
tions, in general, and their school, in particular. 

One other illustration may be seen in the con- 
tests, that are growing more prevalent, in which 
pupils compete for prizes for the most attractive 
lawns, the best gardens, the best bed of flowers, and 
the cleanest streets and alleys about their homes. 
These contests serve to arouse interest in sanitary 
conditions and civic beauty and inculcate the right 
sort of patriotism. One of the prime advantages 
of contests of this nature is that they extend over 
weeks or months, and engage the close attention of 
boys and girls during the entire vacation period. 
Habits of industry are formed, and the gardens, 
especially, are productive of income and thus the 
habit of thrift is fostered. Not only so, but the 



THE TEACHER AS A LEADER. 97 

entire community becomes imbued with the fine 
spirit of the enterprise, and even those who are not 
participants in the competition take a deeper in- 
terest and pride in their environs. Besides, these 
lawns, gardens, streets, and flowers become an ob- 
ject lesson for other communities and, in this way, 
the influence of the teacher who plans the contests 
is broadened and perpetuated. In such contests 
prominent citizens act as judges and so give them 
their sanction and encouragement. 

The prizes should be in the form of certificates 
duly engrossed and provided with attractive seals. 
The plan of giving money prizes in these and sim- 
ilar contests at county and state fairs is to be de- 
plored. The money vanishes, while the certificate is 
kept as an invaluable memento. Such enterprises 
lose something of their merit by becoming commer- 
cialized ; and, besides, the boys and girls imbibe the 
commercial spirit from other sources, and do well 
to learn, through such contests, that there are some 
things that rise above commercial standards. 



CHAPTER TEN. 

THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 

Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve, 
And Hope without an object cannot live. 

— Coleridge. 

A GIRL was working in a shoe factory and re- 
ceived three dollars a week. Because of her 
alertness, docility, and industry her pay was 
soon advanced to three dollars and fifty cents a 
week. Then progress ceased and she became list- 
less and indifferent in executing her tasks. This, 
naturally, surprised her employers and they spec- 
ulated much as to the cause underlying her changed 
attitude. Finally, the manager inquired of her as 
to the cause when she came for her pay envelope 
on Saturday, calling her attention to the fact that 
they had increased her wages. Her reply was in- 
stant, "What's the difference? My mother takes it 
all anyhow." The matter being made clear, the 
manager after that reduced the amount in her pay 
envelope each week to three dollars and gave her 
the fifty cents. She hoarded her treasure and, in 
due time, bought a new dress which she left at the 
home of a friend. In the morning she would stop 
at this house, don her new dress and proceed to 

(98) 



THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 99 

her work, altogether happy. In the evening she 
changed to her old dress before going home. From 
the very beginning of this order of things she was 
a changed girl and proved herself one of the best 
workers in the factory. The ethics of the case are 
not under consideration now, but this incident is 
cited to illustrate the power of motive. The fifty 
cents that she received as her own was the great 
event of the week for her and lured her on pleas- 
antly through all her tasks. 

We are all actuated by motives. Indeed, every 
deliberate act of our lives has a motive behind it. 
The farmer boy, in the morning when the family 
is to make the annual pilgrimage to the county fair, 
needs no further inducement to lure him from his 
bed, nor does the city boy need to be called twice on 
the morning of circus day. The coins in his pocket, 
too, attest the power of motive. He has been dili- 
gent in business for days in anticipation of this 
event. The proverbial goodness of boys during the 
weeks preceding Christmas is another illustration; 
as, also, their regular attendance at Sunday school 
for some weeks prior to the picnic. In business life, 
in social life, and in professional life the motive ele- 
ment is ever present. It may be the egoistic motive, 
or it may be the altruistic motive, but its presence 
can not be doubted. Literature, history, and daily 
experiences abound in illustrations. The universality 
of the motive element in all business affairs natur- 
ally suggests its wider use in school work. The 



100 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

right motive will lure the boy out of himself and 
give a new impetus to all his school activities. 

Motives are now used, to be sure, but the value of 
some of them may well be questioned — such as 
prizes, honor rolls, and the like. These fail to reach 
many pupils who most need stimulating. The child 
whose name never appears upon the roll of honor 
becomes discouraged and then indifferent. The dis- 
couraged and indifferent pupil is the test of the 
teacher's resourcefulness and wisdom in discovering 
and setting up a motive that will stimulate this pupil 
into vigorous life and action. 

One of the strongest motives that impel men to 
action is the desire for the approbation of their 
fellows, especially their peers. The history of prim- 
itive races discloses this fact and our own observa- 
tion of men in this age and land abundantly con- 
firms it. We have only to consider athletic contests, 
society events in all their bearings and details, the 
stage, the political arena, competition in business 
affairs, and, in brief, every phase of modern life to 
be convinced. This motive can be made to serve 
effectively in the school as well as elsewhere. The 
boy does his very utmost in the game in order to 
win the approval of his mates and he will do the 
same in the schoolroom if wisdom and discretion 
are used in setting up right motives. 

In the reading class, to illustrate, the teacher 
announces that every pupil who is called upon to 
read on the following day will read the entire lesson 



THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 101 

and will come to the front of the room and read it 
to the class. The teacher does it in the full knowl- 
edge that she is supplying the motive we now have 
under consideration, the innate wish to win the 
approval of class-mates. 

That evening the reading lesson will be studied as 
never before and every member of every household 
will be regaled with the thoughts set forth in that 
lesson. Other things can wait but that lesson must 
have due and immediate attention. Father's busi- 
ness affairs, and mother's home duties are minor 
matters compared with this. Sister must discon- 
tinue her music practice in order to hear a lesson 
read to her, and brother is waylaid for the same 
purpose. 

All this activity follows upon the heels of a 
right motive. The child feels that she must not 
fail before her mates, and the preparation of that 
lesson is the paramount issue in that home. When 
the time comes and she is called upon to read and 
sees the faces of her classmates before her she expe- 
riences a thrill of delight for she knows the lesson 
and knows her audience to be friendly. She is read- 
ing, not to or for the teacher, but to and for the 
class who give the closest attention and have books 
closed, for they have been properly instructed as to 
the tenets of politeness. The teacher who considers 
the value and effectiveness of this motive will never 
ask pupils to prepare lessons for her, or solve prob- 
lems for her, or recite for her, but always to and 



102 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

for the class. Moreover, she will so arrange that 
every pupil, in reciting, will face the class and direct 
all he has to say to his classmates and not to the 
teacher. 

In the history class the boy comes forward and 
tells the class about the Boston Tea Party or some 
other historical event and continues to the close 
without interruption from either pupils or teacher. 
At the close an opportunity is given for questions 
and corrections. In such an order of school pro- 
cedure it must be evident that preparation will 
be thorough and that the recitation will be a dig- 
nified, profitable, and inspiring exercise. The geog- 
raphy lesson affords another opportunity of the same 
kind. A pupil in front of the class, with map before 
him, assumes full responsibility for the time being 
and the work is a privilege and not a task. Some- 
times a pupil is asked to conduct the entire recita- 
tion, the teacher taking no part in the work. 

Curiosity is another motive that may be made 
to contribute to the success of school work. This 
motive lured Charles Darwin on from one achieve- 
ment to another until he became the most eminent 
scientist the world has known. Curiosity begets the 
desire to know and herein lies the teacher's chief 
concern. If she can but make her pupils hungry 
they will find food. A teacher once said to her class 
quietly, "I wonder if sheep have upper front teeth" 
— and after school that day every butcher in the 
neighborhood was importuned for information on 



THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 103 

this point. She simply aroused their curiosity, and 
they made the investigation and discovery. An- 
other teacher in a botany class said, as if it had just 
occurred to him, "I wonder why leaves are darker 
in color on the upper side than on the under side." 
Before three days the matter had been discussed in 
the homes throughout the village and people saw 
leaves and colors who had never seen them before. 
Scarcely had a satisfactory conclusion been reached 
and the excitement subsided when he said, as a 
mere incident connected with capillary attraction, 
"I wonder if water ever does run up hill," and dis- 
cussion was rife again. One father protested that 
he could neither take his nap nor read his paper so 
insistent were the children for his dictum on the 
subject. By arousing the curiosity of his pupils 
this teacher kept the populace in a pleasurable and 
profitable ferment and the school problems became 
the topics of conversation in shops, in stores, at 
social gatherings, and even at church. As a coin- 
cidence, it may be mentioned that he was re-elected 
and his salary advanced. 

One of the most potent motives that can be util- 
ized in the economy of the school is the motive of 
social cooperation. We are told that man is a gre- 
garious animal and this applies, with emphasis, to 
boys and girls in school. They may be reluctant to 
operate but they will readily cooperate. The boy 
who is indifferent will gladly perform even a diffi- 
cult task in cooperation with two of the most active 



104 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and alert boys of the school and his indifference 
will vanish in the zeal of the enterprise. 

Upon a certain occasion a high school principal, 
seeing the school grounds were somewhat unsightly, 
by reason of the presence of debris of various sorts, 
asked if he could get four boys to join him in mak- 
ing the grounds more sightly. A dozen hands went 
up and when he had designated four of them a fifth 
boy begged permission to take the place of the prin- 
cipal. This was granted and it was esteemed a 
privilege to do the work, which, under different 
circumstances, would have been considered a hard- 
ship and might have caused unfavorable comment. 
In a certain school there was a girl who was not in 
harmony with the activities of the school, but held 
aloof and was inclined to make it appear that she 
was slighted and not given the consideration that 
was accorded to the other girls. A situation of this 
nature is difficult to handle, for a girl in that atti- 
tude of mind resents friendly approaches by the 
teacher or by the pupils. The teacher studied the 
matter carefully for some days and then adopted 
this plan: Near the school lived a lady who had 
been ill for some time but was, at this time, con- 
valescent, but could do no reading as yet. So the 
teacher delegated two girls for each day to go to 
the lady's home and read to her after school. For 
the first day he selected two of the best girls of the 
school; for the second, two others almost equally 
good ; and, for the third, one girl who was a favorite 



THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 105 

in the school and the girl whom he was seeking to 
reach and bring back into harmonious relations to 
the school. Naturally, all the girls were cordially 
welcomed at the home and received evidences of 
full appreciation. All these things were duly re- 
ported at school the following day, and by the time 
the third day came every girl in the school would 
have been glad to be either of the two who had been 
selected. The whole affair was managed with such 
delicacy and tact that the particular girl never sus- 
pected that she was the center of interest in the 
entire plan. The remedy was effective and the cure 
complete, and all through the motive of social co- 
operation which broadened out into the motive of 
altruism. 

These concrete illustrations are given not to be 
copied, unless conditions are similar, but to point 
the way and to show the possibility of using this 
motive of cooperation to good purpose. 

A boy in a certain school always balked at poetry 
and said he couldn't see how any one could read it 
and that he couldn't see any sense in it. This was, 
probably, a pose, but some boys and even some men 
will exert themselves more to justify a course of 
conduct than they will to improve it. So, there could 
be no hope that argument would avail with this 
boy and the teacher was too wise to make the at- 
tempt. But an occasion arose when a poem could 
be used to advantage and the teacher submitted 
three poems to the judgment of a committee of the 



106 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

pupils one of whom was the non-poetry boy. All of 
the committee read the poems and, by chance, or 
otherwise, the first choice of this boy was reported 
as the first choice of the committee. Moreover, they 
asked this boy to report to the school for the com- 
mittee and to read the poem as an important part 
of the report and he did as requested with an evi- 
dent air of pride. 

In still another school there was a boy who had 
untold trouble with his arithmetic. Some thought 
he could not master it while others thought he 
would not. The boy told his father he'd quit school 
if he had to continue to study this subject, that he 
hated it and would rather quit school and work at 
the meanest sort of labor than to try to go on with 
it. The father was greatly perplexed and appealed 
to the teacher who, as the father discovered, was 
equally anxious and disturbed. Together they 
agreed to study the matter carefully for a few days 
longer to see if any way out of the difficulty could 
be found. A few days later when the class in arith- 
metic was called, the teacher told how Harry, one 
of their classmates, had slipped on the ice on his 
way home the day before and broken his right arm, 
how he had called to see him that morning and 
found him in good spirits but not knowing how he 
could get on with his arithmetic during his en- 
forced absence. Then he asked a bright boy if he 
wouldn't go over that afternoon and work through 



THE MOTIVE ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 107 

the lesson with Harry. He assented readily. Then 
he made the same proposal to another bright boy 
for the next afternoon and to the slow boy for the 
third afternoon. The skies cleared at once and 
there was no more talk of quitting school and no 
more serious trouble with arithmetic. 



CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 
For courage mounts with occasion. — Shakespeare. 

MUCH has been said and written bearing 
upon the practical phases of school work 
and all these discussions are helping to 
clarify the meaning of education. All vocational 
and industrial work in the schools has come as an 
answer to the call for the practical element. Some 
of the more ardent have interpreted this call to mean 
that the school should so organize its activities as 
to fit the boy, in a definite way, for his vocation in 
life. This is clearly impossible since no one, not 
even the parents, can foresee what will be his voca- 
tion. He may have an aptitude for mathematics in 
boyhood and still become an artist, or a poet, or a 
physician, or a lawyer. One boy who was unusually 
precocious in mathematics in his boyhood is now a 
laborer. If we could predetermine the boy's voca- 
tion, school work could be simplified, possibly, but 
democracy would suffer. The caste system would, 
at once, obtain and America would cease to spell 
opportunity. 

The school should help the boy in his efforts to 
find his vocation, which means to find himself, but 

(108; 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 109 

neither his vocation nor himself can be found in 
advance. His possibilities are his chief asset and 
the teacher's opportunity. The teacher's work, so 
far as he is concerned, is to help him make the 
most of himself instead of fashioning him to fit 
some preconceived groove. Herein lies the delicacy 
of the teaching process. In the school, as now 
organized, there is and must be, so much that is 
uniform that it requires an effort to avoid thinking 
of uniformity ill connection with the pupils them- 
selves. 

To attach our teaching to the native interests of 
the child is to begin at the beginning. Every nor- 
mal child has an interest in something, bird, bee, 
dog, horse, flower, toy, home, book, game, — and 
we have but to discover this interest and lead out 
from it in our teaching to make school work seem 
to him worth while. By this plan we shall be able 
to enlarge the content of his knowledge of the object 
of his interest and, also, develop other interests that 
are related to and grow out of the primary interests. 

The plaything that is engaging the boy's atten- 
tion in the class may be made the starting-point for 
excellent teaching. Time was when the teacher 
confiscated the toy, as a banality, and admonished 
the boy to give his attention to something worth 
while, such as the geography lesson. But, in a 
certain school, the teacher discovered a post-card 
of peculiar design in the hand of a girl in the 
geography class. Instead of confiscating this object 



110 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

of interest the teacher began the lesson with the 
card, discovering that her uncle had sent it to her 
from Paris, and that it was a representation of one 
of the numerous bronze fountains at Versailles. 
This suggested Louis Fourteenth, and one of the 
pupils was able to give to the class a graphic recital 
of many events connected with the life of the "Grand 
Monarch." 

Another gave an account of a visit he had 
made to Versailles in which he described some 
of the fountains, telling of their mythological sig- 
nificance. He told, also, of the theater in the heart 
of the forest where the king and his guests wit- 
nessed performances sitting on the turf in the 
amphitheater. He told of the artificial cascade and 
of the kaleidoscopic effect produced by the multi- 
colored bits of glass and stone that formed the back- 
ground of this waterfall. He told of the Trianon 
and the room in which Napoleon slept, and of the 
bath-tub which was so constructed as to be used 
as a settee when not in use as a bath-tub. He de- 
scribed the table which has a circular top, ten feet 
in diameter, made from a single board. He told of 
the cottage in the depth of the forest which Marie 
Antoinette occupied, of the beautiful garden, and 
the water-wheel at the side of the cottage. He told 
of the many royal carriages, of their designs, and of 
their gorgeous trimmings. 

One of the girls told of some of the wonders and 
beauties of Paris, of which she had learned from 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. Ill 

relatives who had recently returned from a visit to 
that city, which had extended through several 
weeks. She told of the boulevards, the Bois, the 
Tomb of Napoleon, the Louvre, and the Luxemburg 
art galleries, the Eiffel Tower, of Pere le Chaise 
where Abelard and Heloise lie side by side, and of 
the stirring events connected with the annual cele- 
bration of the fall of the Bastile. 

True, the book lesson was not recited, but geog- 
raphy is larger than any book and the children were 
learning the larger lesson and were being prepared 
for a larger and better understanding of the les- 
sons of the book. This teacher knows how to invest 
the subject of geography with human interest and 
it should be particularly noted that she began with 
the native interest of one girl and enlarged her cir- 
cle of interest until it included the interests of many 
others. 

In that delightful book, "Sonny," only one 
teacher of the many who tried was able to reach 
the boy and she was the one who could invest the 
subject with human interest; and this she did by 
beginning with the native interests of the boy. It 
is the fine art of teaching thus to invest each subject 
with human interest and in the hands of the teacher 
who can do this there are no dry subjects. Every 
subject becomes instinct with life because it is at- 
tached to the most vital thing the boy knows and 
that is himself. 

Latin is usually accounted one of the so-called 



112 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

dry subjects but many teachers have emancipated 
it from this classification by investing it with human 
interest. Caesar's bridge has often been built by 
both boys and girls and the difficult chapter which 
describes the bridge lost its terrors and became a 
fascination. 

One teacher asked her pupils to make a model 
of a Roman camp. This was made a part of 
the school exhibit at the county fair and no object 
in the exhibit attracted more attention or received 
more enthusiastic commendation. Another teacher 
of Latin reviewed the fourth book of the Aeneid by 
having the pupils debate the question, "Was Aeneas 
justified in his treatment of Dido?" — each speaker 
translating from the text to prove his contention. 
The review was accomplished in three days instead 
of eight or ten, but there was "white heat" in Latin 
work during those three days. The girls, for the 
most part, championed the cause of Dido while 
some of the boys took the high ground that Aeneas 
in his conduct was actuated by noble motives in fol- 
lowing the voice of duty and not the voice of pleas- 
ure. One boy quoted "Excelsior" by way of rein- 
forcing his argument. 

A certain teacher of drawing prefers to have 
her pupils draw from living models, where animal 
life is concerned and so asks the children to bring 
pets to school for this purpose. A boy brings his 
dog for one lesson, a girl her kitten for the next, 
another a rabbit, another a bird, and one boy, on a 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 113 

fine day, brought his pony and the class had the 
lesson in the school-yard. Human interest is at 
high tension in exercises of this sort for each child 
wants his drawing of the pet of his classmate to be 
the best possible in order that he may exhibit it at 
home. It is quite evident that after a few lessons 
of this nature every cow, dog, horse, and fowl in the 
neighborhood will pose for a drawing. 

A young lady had the pupils in her class in arith- 
metic keep the grocery accounts of the households 
to which they belonged and she audited these ac- 
counts, privately, thus averting any suggestion that 
they would become common property of the school. 
This experience proved that the work of addition, 
subtraction, and multiplication went on far more 
rapidly and with more intense interest since the 
work was a part of the home-life of each child and, 
therefore, was vital. 

The scope for human interest in agriculture, 
botany, and zoology is practically unlimited. Every 
child has a predominating interest in some object 
included in these sciences and this object can be 
made the point of departure in the teaching. One 
boy brought a harmless snake to school and, at first, 
the pupils shrank from it, especially the girls, but 
before the close of the recitation, so adroitly did the 
teacher handle the matter, every pupil in the class 
was eager to study the snake at close range and 
even to take it in his hands. From that time forth 
those pupils were interested in snakes and courted 



114 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

opportunities for studying them — their habitat, 
their food, their habits, their locomotion, and their 
tenure of life. In short, in that one class exercise 
they received a great impetus as students of zoology 
because the teacher knew how to invest the subject 
with human interest. 

English in all its phases affords a fertile field 
for this sort of work — whether grammar, language 
study, composition, or literature. In grammar ap- 
peals may be made to the difficulties which the pupils 
themselves encounter in their efforts to come by 
correct forms of speech. One says he knows that 
a certain form is not correct but does not know why. 
Another says she knows what the correct form 
is but that the incorrect form comes so readily to 
her lips that she has difficulty in avoiding it. This 
lesson develops into a series of personal experiences 
with many observations added. It must be evident 
that an improvement in the use of forms of speech 
will date from this exercise. The composition work 
calls for a wide knowledge of the interests of the 
children by the teacher and the quest for this knowl- 
edge may become a rich experience. It may be 
gained at the homes, from parents and neighbors 
at social gatherings, at church, or on the street. 
However obtained, it is fundamental in composition 
work — whether oral or written. 

In a community that boasted of the greatness 
of its salt works, the teacher assigned to a boy these 
works as his topic in oral composition thinking that 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 115 

he was best qualified to speak with knowledge upon 
the subject. As he proceeded in his description the 
teacher noticed a look upon the face of another boy 
that betokened disapproval. This boy was noted in 
the school for his indifference and was called dumb 
and lazy. However, he showed a deep interest in 
the other boy's description of salt production. 
Noticing this, the teacher asked him to recite on the 
same topic and he electrified both teachers and class- 
mates with his comprehensive and accurate descrip- 
tion of the process. So interested did he become 
that his description amounted to eloquence. Such 
boys are never reached through abstract subjects. 
The subject for that boy was the production of salt 
as the teacher would have known had she been ap- 
prised of the fact that his father was the head of 
the company that owned and operated the salt 
works. 

In the realm of literature the choice of illustra- 
tions is difficult because they are so numerous. We 
have only to ask the question, "Would you want 
your mother to do as Lady Macbeth did?" to make 
the entire play instinct with life since the question 
touches the interest of every pupil. There will be 
no occasion to set limits to the reading for next 
day for they will surely be disregarded, seeing the 
reputation of every mother is at stake. The zeal of 
pupils will recognize no lesson limits. Furthermore, 
the editor who annotates the play will find his work 
largely ignored for the investigation is too personal 



116 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

for second-hand opinions. These pupils want to get 
right at the heart of the matter, for to them it is a 
matter of life and death, as it were. No borrowed 
judgments will satisfy them. When the play has 
been read and the discussions begin there will be 
no occasion to counsel the teacher to permit the 
pupils to do the reciting. They will do that even 
without permission and the teacher's opportunity 
for talking will be conditioned upon the politeness 
of the class. 

In the "Lady of the Lake" a debate as to the 
comparative merits of Roderick and FitzJames, with 
text citations, will induce a careful reading and an 
animated discussion as well as a revelation of the 
real sentiments of the debaters. Such characters as 
Ellen, Portia, Rebecca, Cordelia, Miranda, and 
Antigone afford a natural basis for the question, 
"Were these young women natural people?" This 
question invests these characters with human qual- 
ities and so renders them objects of interest. Each 
girl, especially, asks herself what she would have 
done in circumstances such as environed these char- 
acters and, hence, her reading becomes a personal 
experience, and so is intensive. Nor will she enter 
into a judgment on the question until she has viewed 
the character from every angle and these characters 
become as personal, in time, as the women of her 
acquaintance. Literature, in this way, becomes a 
study of life and will continue far beyond the years 
of school activities. 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 117 

A boy enjoys exploring in regions that are de- 
batable ground and so takes a deep interest in Shy- 
lock and Brutus. He will be wholly for or against 
Shylock and, if for him, will argue with eyes ablaze 
as the champion of a much-maligned character. 
After such a debate Shylock will be a very real per- 
son and not simply a name. To tell a boy that 
Brutus was the hero of the play of "Julius Caesar" 
will probably arouse his pugnacity and that is hu- 
man interest. 

History, too, abounds in illustrations of oppor- 
tunities for introducing the element of human in- 
terest. The drama touching the jlives of Queen 
Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots is a case in 
point. These characters will live and move before 
the class if the teacher knows how to invoke their 
presence through the reading of her pupils. They 
will prove themselves very real, also, and their 
words and conduct will be fraught with lasting 
significance to the pupils. 

The difficult work in history teaching is to cause 
the characters to stand apart from all others so that 
they become personal entities and never become con- 
fused with others. To do this we have only to in- 
vest them with human attributes and our largest 
task is accomplished. The attributes differentiate 
the characters and set them apart as individuals. 
No boy who has thus read his history will ever con- 
fuse the characters. Abraham Lincoln will not be 
mistaken for Napoleon, nor Queen Victoria for any 



118 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

other queen. Socrates has no double in history nor 
in the minds of history students. This is the first 
thing to be accomplished in the history class and 
human interest is the finger-board that points the 
way. 

A teacher of German hit upon a novel plan for 
giving her pupils a mastery of a working vocabulary 
by taking an imaginary journey to and through Ger- 
many. First of all, they must pack their trunks and 
traveling bags and that proved an exciting game. 
All names must be given in German with proper 
pronunciation and accent. Then railroad tickets 
must be secured and berths arranged for. Meals 
must be ordered in the dining car and passage ar- 
ranged for on the ship. Once on board, the ship 
itself becomes the object lesson. Nautical terms 
must be learned in English and then in German. 
Coming into the cities of Germany they entered upon 
the study of means of transportation, places of spe- 
cial interest, municipal government, mail service, 
police regulations, galleries, museums, parks, and 
the distinguishing characteristics of each city. In 
this fascinating game books became their helpers 
and friends and not their tasks, and the recitation 
was eagerly anticipated. Pictures, post-cards, clip- 
pings, personal letters, heirlooms, and supplemen- 
tary books were all laid under tribute for the benefit 
of (the class. German cakes, candies, and other 
dainties were contributed by the members of the 
class and the names of these must be learned before 
their qualities were tested. An interesting fact con- 



HUMAN INTEREST IN TEACHING. 119 

nected with this teacher's work was the wealth of 
material that it discovered in the homes of pupils, 
material that had long been before their eyes but 
that they had not seen until it had been invested 
with interest by their experiences in the class. 

The safe in a post office was blown open with 
nitro-glycerine one night and the next day the 
teacher of chemistry turned aside from the regular 
lesson to study the qualities and action of this ex- 
plosive. 

A teacher of physics, in beginning the subject of 
falling bodies, told how a player in one of the 
leagues tried to catch a ball that was dropped from 
the top of Washington Monument. They were all 
eager to discover how fast the ball was going when 
he tried to catch it. The boys of this same school 
had a wireless apparatus installed in the building 
and some of them one in their homes, besides. 

Every subject of the curriculum may be made 
to pulsate with human interest and the boys and 
girls will express themselves freely when they find 
themselves in a kindly and sympathetic atmosphere. 
Their likes and dislikes in history and literature, 
their experiences in the shop, on the farm, in the 
kitchen, their hopes and aspirations, their plans for 
the future and the motives that lie back of them, 
their recreations, their amusements, as well as their 
joys and sorrows become a part of the great body 
of truth with which they are having to do and so 
school becomes to them, in a very real sense, a part 
of life itself. 



CHAPTER TWELVE. 

THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 

One right former is worth a thousand reformers. 

— Horace Mann. 

IT is but a truism to say that the primary aim 
in teaching is to generate thought in the minds 
of the taught, whether in the kindergarten or 
the university. Elaborated, this statement would 
mean, clear thinking, consecutive thinking, logical 
thinking, thinking on subjects that are worthy and, 
also, that the thinking should function in right con- 
duct. In an effort to realize this primary aim the 
lecture method is used by some teachers, notably 
by many teachers in the college, and by some in the 
high school who ape college professors, but the 
method in general use is the question and answer 
method. In fact, most people who have passed 
through the schools would define school education 
as consisting of questions and answers. This 
method has become so ingrained in school life that 
it confronts us on every hand — in the class exercise, 
in tests, and in examinations for every conceivable 
purpose, ranging from promotion in the primary 
school to securing positions in the government. 
Generally, ten questions are asked and, if the can- 
didate answers six or seven of these to the satisfac- 

(120) 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 121 

tion of the examiner, he is said to pass. In the minds 
of very many teachers and most parents school work 
is but a preparation for an examination which will 
consist of eight or ten questions. These questions, 
as a rule, have to do only with phases or fragments 
of the subject and not complete wholes and are tests 
of memory rather than of clear understanding. 

Christ was the Great Teacher and taught in par- 
ables whose object was to incite to clear thinking 
that would lead to right conclusions, and, ultimately, 
to right conduct. We admire and extol the method 
of Socrates without imitating. The same may be 
said of the method of Agassiz, who was accounted 
one of the greatest of modern teachers. No one 
will deny that the question and answer method has 
value but it tends to produce cloudy, as opposed to 
clear thinking and fragmentary as opposed to con- 
secutive thinking. In practice it resembles the plow 
that is now in and now out of the ground and thus 
haggles instead of thoroughly ploughing the field. 
One weakness of this method is the tendency of 
teachers to over-estimate the importance of their 
own questions, not realizing that another teacher 
might ask the same number of questions of greater 
value on the same lesson. To the pupils the ques- 
tions which the teacher asks are the final word on 
the subject and they do not concern themselves with 
the subject beyond the limits of these questions. 
Their view of the subject is thus contracted and 
their range of thought curtailed. It is scarcely pos- 



122 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

sible to make ten questions cover all that a pupil 
ought to know on the content of a chapter in the 
book. The mind jumps from question to question 
and so acquires the jumping habit. 

A college professor of history says that the be- 
ginning of his interest and real study of history 
dates from the time when his teacher asked him 
what he would have done had he been Tiberius 
Gracchus. Here was a definite problem, even if in 
question form, proposed to him for solution. Be- 
fore he could make answer he would have to recon- 
struct the social conditions of Rome at that time, 
in all their ramifications and bearings, and try to 
fit into these conditions the man in whom his prob- 
lem centered. This would necessitate wide reading 
and, better yet, consecutive thinking. Where the 
question method had failed the problem method 
transformed the indifference of the boy into dy- 
namic purpose and industry. 

Children enjoy working out puzzles because these 
appeal to the play instinct which every normal child 
possesses and, for the same reason, they enjoy the 
problem. Manual training, home economics, corn 
contests are all fine games for young people, aside 
from the rewards at the end, because their own 
initiative has freedom. The problem for them is 
more fascinating than the toy puzzle because it 
issues into something more worth while, and even 
children appreciate real values. 

In a high school the teacher assigned to two boys 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 123 

the making and operating of a wireless apparatus 
as their part of the commencement program. It is 
hardly conceivable that any number of questions 
and answers would have given to these boys as com- 
prehensive knowledge of the principles involved in 
the construction of the mechanism as the independ- 
ent solution of the problem afforded. But better 
even than their success in constructing the machine 
was the clear, consecutive thinking required. In the 
solution of one problem they gained thought-power 
sufficient for many others. 

Years ago text-books contained, in the margin, 
questions based upon the text and, sometimes, 
answers. We have outgrown that practice but we 
still have the examination of teachers given in ques- 
tion form and some educational journals publish 
answers to these questions because it is a source of 
profit and not because it is sound pedagogy. In 
time we shall outgrow this practice and a plan will 
be devised whereby we shall test for the teaching- 
power and the thought-power of teachers and not 
merely for memory. When we finally reach that 
stage of development the plan will inevitably per- 
colate into our school-room practices with the result 
that the schools and colleges will give us men and 
women who think more clearly and more consec- 
utively and, therefore, to better purpose. 

We must hold to and try to improve the present 
method until a better one is found, but it is quite 
worth while for all teachers to make an effort to 



124 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

come upon a better plan of generating the right 
kind of thinking. This effort can be made in every 
class exercise and in all subjects. When the ques- 
tion and answer plan seems inadequate it can be 
supplemented by the problem method. The pupil 
may not remember the rule for translating the read- 
ing of a Centigrade thermometer into Fahrenheit 
but tell him of the American in Paris who saw that 
the Centigrade thermometer registered thirty-five 
degrees, and was in a state of perplexity to know 
how warm it was according to his home standards, 
and you have given the boy something concrete that 
will challenge his best thought. The boy cannot give 
the answer off-hand nor is it desirable that he should 
for that would prove that no thinking was required. 
The process of education requires time and if the 
boy must be graded on this question the grade-book 
may well be held in abeyance for a day or even a 
week if that should be best for the boy and his 
thinking. But he will come with the answer and he 
will come with the air of a conqueror and, then, the 
matter of grading him will seem of slight conse- 
quence. After that he will not need to remember 
for he will know and so the method will have justi- 
fied itself. 

Under such treatment many practical problems 
would be brought from the homes to the school for 
solution. The solution might be beyond the powers 
of the pupils or even the teacher but thinking would 
be generated and so they would serve a useful pur- 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 125 

pose. In the school process we can afford to wait 
for results if only thinking is in progress. Here is 
a problem that well illustrates this point and it is 
given in the girl's exact words : "My mother wished 
to bleach some table linen, so she dipped it in water 
and hung it on the line in the sun. She wetted it 
every day and left it hanging on the line for a week 
but it did not get white. One day Grandma came to 
our house and she said, 'Why, Lucy, why don't you 
put your linen on that nice green grass in the back 
yard? I know it will bleach.' Mamma put it there 
and it got nice and white in a couple of days." It 
may require years for the pupils to arrive at the 
scientific solution of this problem and the teacher 
may be unable to explain it but such problems 
should not be tabooed on that score. This very 
problem may lead those pupils and the teacher, also, 
into the study of chemistry, and they will cite the 
incident, as did the professor of history, as a new 
starting-point in their thinking. The problem will 
certainly be discussed in many homes in the commu- 
nity and that is always a gain to the school, even 
though the solution is not forthcoming. 

In a school whose teacher invited such problems 
connected with home affairs, a girl said, "I wonder 
why our mothers are always in such a hurry to get 
the lids on the can they have filled with fruit." Any 
one who has visited a canning factory that repre- 
sents large investments will readily appreciate the 
scope and value of this question when applied to 



126 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the operations of the factory. Such problems are 
quite as important as the stereotyped ones in the 
book and the teacher may well turn aside from the 
book, for a time, in order to give them due consid- 
eration. Let it be reiterated that we should not 
demand an immediate solution but that we lay the 
lines for thinking toward a solution. Objection 
will be made that such diversions will interrupt the 
systematic procedure in the school. The answer is 
that systematic thinking is quite as important as 
systematic procedure and, in the end, the procedure 
will not suffer. 

Helen Keller is one of the most highly edu- 
cated women in the world despite her handicaps, 
but her achievements are not indebted to the sys- 
tematic procedure in the schools. The boy has 
greater value than the system, however valuable the 
system. Granting all that the system claims for 
itself, if the extra-system work produces alertness 
and clear thinking, the boy will run the gamut of the 
system in shorter time and with greater profit and 
the system need not suffer violence. 

Still another girl submitted this problem: "In 
a certain European palace garden there stood a row 
of splendid oak trees that had withstood, for years, 
the heavy wind storms which beat against them 
from the sea. One night a storm blew from the 
land and uprooted every one of these trees. Now, 
I wonder why trees that could stand the force of 
so many ocean storms should fall before one land 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 127 

storm." Some one may ask whether this is a prob- 
lem in geography, horticulture, or physics, as if that 
were an important matter. However, it were far 
easier to answer that than to explain where one 
subject leaves off and the other begins. Yearn 
after labels as we may, it is forever true that the 
substance is of more value than the label. Socrates 
concerned himself not at all with branches of study 
but he was a teacher of distinction none the less. 

The boy says he is trying to determine whether 
Lady Macbeth was a good woman or a bad one, and 
many of his elders are struggling in the same deep 
waters. However, this moral problem will lead the 
boy to give this drama many readings and much 
thought and if, in ten years, he comes to a conclusion 
that he is willing and able to defend he will have 
gone far toward becoming a student of literature. 
Boiling water shows that something is happening. 
The grade-book demands that things be settled on 
the instant, while real teaching may incite to an 
unsettled condition of things. It is better to wait 
a few years before grading this boy on the moral 
question touching the character of Lady Macbeth. 

Another boy was led to wonder what would be 
our mode of living in this latitude if the earth's 
axis were inclined thirty degrees. To speculate 
upon a problem of this nature clarifies the boy's 
knowledge of things as they are and we may very 
properly wish that more school boys were given to 
such speculations. 



128 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Again, a girl relates an actual occurrence in the 
following words: "A runaway street car came 
down Oak street, rounded a sharp curve, left the 
track and crashed into the side of the school build- 
ing. I wonder why the car turned toward the inside 
of the curve instead of running off tangent to the 
outside of the curve." When this girl reaches the 
class in physics and the book and teacher are giving 
the scientific explanation her reaction will prove a 
delight to the teacher, and this reaction will be the 
blossoming forth of the thought she gave the sub- 
ject in the years preceding. 

A boy who is interested in geography wonders 
why the Pacific Ocean is deeper than the Atlantic, 
why Africa has a Sahara Desert while South Amer- 
ica has none, and what is meant by the "Midnight 
Sun." Ordinarily, the teacher seems satisfied if the 
boy locates the Sahara Desert and repeats the lan- 
guage of the book relative to the comparative depth 
of the two oceans. The problem assumes these facts 
and so is broader in its scope. 

To arrive at correct solutions to these problems 
the class will gain much related knowledge of geog- 
raphy that, in itself, is valuable and will, further, 
learn how to use facts in the quest for other facts. 
This we call reasoning from the known to the re- 
lated unknown, even though some teachers contend 
that geography does not lend itself to the process of 
reasoning. If we ask a pupil to prove that the alti- 
tude of Duluth is greater than the altitude of Buf- 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 129 

falo his proof will come through the process of rea- 
soning. Memorizing facts alone will not avail in 
any effort to explain the causes of the frequent po- 
litical and social disturbances in the Latin-Ameri- 
can countries but an explanation may be evolved 
through a process of reasoning using the recognized 
facts of geography as data. In short, it is possible 
to train pupils to reason in the study of geography 
and the problem method will prove an aid in the 
process. 

A traveler relates that he once went by train, 
from Munich to Nuremburg in two hours and fif- 
teen minutes and found that the distance is two 
hundred kilometers. To him the perplexing fea- 
ture of the trip was to calculate the rate of travel 
in miles per hour. State this problem to an eighth 
grade on Monday morning and every pupil in the 
class will have a solution before Friday evening and 
with no urging on the part of the teacher. The 
problem itself is a challenge, and kilometers appeal 
to the pugnacity of every normal eighth grade 
pupil ; so, there will be a battle royal all week long 
until the enemy has capitulated. Incidentally there 
will be increased knowledge of the Metric System. 

A lady who removed from Dayton, Ohio, to 
Butte, Montana, recounts her difficulties in bread- 
making saying that when she used the ingredients 
in her customary proportions her bread became too 
light. There must be an explanation and the girls, 
especially, will attack the problem with avidity, ask 



130 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

their mothers for the explanation, and failing here 
make an appeal to their fathers, and so continue 
with neighbors and friends until a solution is 
reached. In the process they will encounter physi- 
cal geography, physics, air pressure, relative alti- 
tudes, and, incidentally, bread-making — all of them 
useful factors of education. 

This problem, in another form, comes from a 
man who was a member of a camping party in 
Yellowstone Park, and who relates his experience 
in trying to boil potatoes whole. The water boiled, 
and splashed over the side of the vessel but the po- 
tatoes remained obdurate. In despair, they finallly 
ate supper, but without potatoes, which, however, 
did yield to treatment in ample time for breakfast. 
In problems of this kind one can be made to rein- 
force the other, until pupils in the grammar grades 
will gain a clear understanding of the principles. 
There is no occasion to give an exhaustive list of 
these problems since they will develop as the work 
proceeds and the ones that develop will be better 
for that class than the ones given here. These are 
merely typical and are given to illustrate the 
problem method of teaching. It must have been 
noted that many of the problems that have been 
given are introduced by the words / wonder. This 
expression arrests attention at once and clears a 
way for initiative on the part of the learner. The 
question "How far is it from the Azores Islands to 
Gibraltar?" comes to the pupil as a demand, or a 



THE PROBLEM ELEMENT IN TEACHING. 131 

task, or a lesson but "I wonder how far it is from 
the Azores Islands to Gibraltar?" suggests co-opera- 
tion and friendliness, and he beams with delight as 
he makes an investigation. 

When the teacher says, "I wonder whether 
the President ever wrote any books" she is giving 
her pupils a passport into unknown lands with a 
pleasant bon voyage as they set sail. She doesn't 
ask for definite answers to restrictive questions but 
accords to them the largest freedom, knowing well 
that definite information will result and that the 
pursuit of knowledge will prove a joyous ex- 
perience. 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 

TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING. 

Instructors should not only be skilful in those sciences 
which they teach, but have skill in the method of teaching, 
and patience in the practice. — Dr. Isaac Watts. 

IF teaching is an art, then, by the same token, 
the teacher should be an artist. If this is not 
the case, then we must, perforce, separate 
teachers into two classes — those who are artists 
and those who are not. The distinction is not in- 
vidious, but is suggested merely as a standard for 
self-examination. The artist teacher may be dis- 
tinguished from others, quite as readily as the ar- 
tist painter, the artist sculptor, or the artist musi- 
cian. We may not be able to catalogue the dis- 
tinguishing characteristics, but we never mistake 
one for the other. In every great art gallery one 
sees novices making copies of some of the master- 
pieces. They may be earning a livelihood, in this 
way, or they may be students of art; but they are 
not artists either in the estimation of themselves 
or of others. They are painters but not artists. 
Two or more pianists may play the same selection 
on the same instrument, but there is a difference. 
The quality of tones that one evokes marks her an 
artist and lifts her above the plane of mediocrity. 

(132) 



TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING. 133 

The applause of the others is earnest and sincere for 
they recognize in her performance a distinctive 
quality that they have, as yet, been unable to at- 
tain. Two or more teachers may be teaching the 
same lesson to children of the same grade, but there 
is a difference. In the work of one there is a deli- 
cacy of touch, an incisiveness, a tone quality that 
betokens the artist. The others recognize her su- 
periority and give it generous praise even though 
unable, as yet, to emulate. A great surgeon con- 
ducts a clinic, performing a major operation, and 
has as on-lookers a hundred men who are classed 
as surgeons but who have never essayed the task 
that he performs with apparent ease. They call 
him an artist, and so he is. They do him deference, 
which is altogether fitting and reflects credit upon 
themselves. 

Several people who were known to be school- 
teachers were candidates for a position and the 
superintendent was canvassing their qualifications. 
In the course of his investigations he met a friend 
who was conversant with the work of one candi- 
date and asked him this question, "Can she teach 
school?" This question embodies many questions 
as to general fitness, education, professional train- 
ing, character, personality, and ability to impart 
instruction, but, above all, it has in it an effort to 
discover whether she is an artist. In school par- 
lance this question carries just that meaning. Set 
in juxta-position, the two expressions, school teach- 



134 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

ing and teaching school seem to be about the same, 
but in the estimation of the expert in school affairs, 
they are antipodal. All are school teachers who 
can secure licenses and positions, but they can not 
all teach school. We find frequent wrecks along 
the pedagogical coast. Those who do not succeed 
readily find the causes of failure in the board of 
education, the superintendent, the children, their 
colleagues, the community, or local conditions; but 
never in themselves. Moreover, they go through 
life with the firm conviction that they would have 
succeeded in other conditions. Yet, these are called 
school teachers even though they never did and, 
probably, never could teach school. Most school 
teachers can learn to teach school, and, herein, lies 
a great hope for the children. When this comes to 
pass, teaching will be a profession and, as soon as 
it becomes a profession, it will be recognized as 
such by the public. 

The expression teaching school suggests far 
more than a mere occupation, a means of earning 
a livelihood. It suggests the difference between the 
artist and the artisan. These differ radically and 
fundamentally both in respect of the tools they use 
and in the manner of using them. The artisan uses 
hammer and chisel in his work and plies them with 
muscular force; the artist uses the most delicate 
tools and directs them with nice skill. The artisan 
may require many complicated appliances in his 
work ; the artist needs few, if any, and those of the 



TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING. 135 

simplest kind. The amount of apparatus in a 
school-room is no certain indication of the sort of 
teaching that is in progress, just as the size of a li- 
brary does not denote the amount or character of 
the work which its owner does. Shakespeare had 
fewer books than most teachers possess. Socrates 
was accounted a great teacher, but he would have 
been bewildered in many of the school laboratories 
of today. To be sure, a well-equipped laboratory is 
an aid, but it can not take the place of teaching 
power. The teacher who excels in artistic execution 
does not need the aid of extraneous elements; they 
but hamper and hinder the delicacy of her work. 
In a recitation in geometry a boy was at the 
black-board demonstrating a proposition and, ap- 
parently, understood all the successive steps for 
his demonstration was given in a manner that in- 
dicated full confidence. However, in the midst of 
his progress, the teacher quietly asked, "Where is 
D"? Before he could answer he had to review the 
entire work and in this review he discovered that 
he had gone astray in his work and that a further 
advance would have been disastrous. The teacher 
knew just when, where, and how to insert the probe 
in order to clarify the whole situation, and his man- 
ner of doing it was most artistic. His simple ques- 
tion, asked with no flourish or ostentation, enabled 
the boy to discover and correct his own error and 
so came to the conclusion of his work in triumph, 
and without prejudice. That was the only question 



136 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

asked by the teacher during the recitation because 
it was the only question that was needed. He gave 
the right of way to his pupils and never obtruded 
his knowledge unless it was necessary to avert 
calamity. He is an artist and his simple question 
"Where is D ?" led, indirectly, to his promotion to a 
position far more lucrative. 

The artist teacher is never voluble and never 
commands her pupils to think, knowing the futility 
of such a command. On the contrary, she induces 
thought by a simple question in quiet tones, or by 
a hint or suggestion. When she sees a pupil stray- 
ing from the path she walks quietly to his side, and, 
with apparent unconsciousness, edges him back 
into the right course, and so leaves him innocent 
of his deviation. When she finds it- necessary to 
repeat any part of the work she approaches the 
matter from a different angle, and does it in a dif- 
ferent way, thus making it seem altogether new. 
She can invest even a difficult lesson with sufficient 
novelty to carry it through to success, and make it 
an enjoyable experience to the class with no abate- 
ment of thoroughness. One such teacher in a reci- 
tation in reading said : "I think I see a word in this 
lesson that has two spellings, and both cor- 
rect." That was a quiet signal for an intense 
scrutiny of every word in the lesson that could pos- 
sibly fit the description. Another such teacher in 
a Latin class remarked quietly, as if it had just oc- 
curred to her, that she noticed in verbs of the third 



TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING. 137 

and fourth conjugations that the Future Indicative 
has one a and five e's, and the Present Subjunctive 
has six a's — the only difference between the two 
tenses in all verbs of these conjugations being one 
letter. The pupils were all alert at once for they 
had discovered the key that would unlock these 
tenses in hundreds of verbs. On another occasion 
this teacher likened a technical construction to a 
giraffe, saying that if they should see a giraffe 
today they would certainly recognize it tomorrow. 
Thereafter they would indicate in their books all 
the constructions that might prove to be giraffes 
and their Latin lesson was endowed with fascina- 
tion. They came to that class as if it were a dining- 
room where a choice refection was spread for them. 
There were no complaints made in that class to the 
effect that Latin is not a practical subject. On the 
contrary, they were valiant champions of this 
language and extolled its virtues in spirited debates. 
Such teachers have technique. In many respects 
this is analogous to tact in matters of school disci- 
pline. It may defy definition, but it is very real, 
nevertheless, and is easily recognized. It may re- 
veal itself in a look, in a movement, in a word, in a 
smile, or in silence. It is never effusive, never ex- 
travagant, never oracular, never didactic, and never 
turbulent. It is serene as the morning, yet preg- 
nant with potential energy. It is subtle, free from 
guile, kindly, generous, charitable, and unselfish. It 
is willing to be unseen if others may stand forth in 



138 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the light. It is skill, but more than that; it is 
cleverness, but more than that; it is finesse, but 
more and better than that. Its currency comprises 
the fine things in life, the niceties of language and 
of conduct. 

Corot painted "The Dance of the Nymphs" and 
people marveled at the grace and harmony of the 
production. Later on, they discovered that trees 
and figures are but incidents in the composition, 
and that what he really portrayed is the silver-gray 
of the foliage. When this major quality of the pic- 
ture was discovered they found that he had faith- 
fully reproduced the cast of the foliage, though 
their eyes had not been able to discern the silver- 
gray of the trees until after his revelation. So, by 
his technique, he did what no one else had ever 
done, and opened the eyes of his generation to new 
beauties and new meanings. 

Alma Tadema's well-known picture "The Read- 
ing from Homer" illustrates the same principle. 
He is the world's great master-painter of marble, 
and, in this picture, the inner meaning lies back of 
the figures. His materials may seem conventional 
but the treatment is unique and the product pro- 
claims the artist. 

So it is with the artist teacher. Her materials 
are the common possessions of all schools, books, 
children, lessons, but the secret of her success lies 
in her manner of handling those materials. The 



TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING. 139 

delicate precision of her every word and movement, 
her fine appreciation of individual powers and 
needs, and her subtle genius in adapting means to 
ends, — all these proclaim her an artist no less than 
the sculptor or the painter. 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

BEHAVIOR. 

Therefore, now, 
I will stretch forth my yearning hands to seize 
The luminous Truth, which, girdled on my brow, 
Shall fringe my soul with flaming sanctities. 

— Realf. 

BEHAVIOR may be defined as the sum of our 
reactions in a given set of conditions. Fig- 
uratively, it may be regarded as a cyclom- 
eter which indicates our rate of progress in the 
process of evolution. Our behavior today may be 
compared or contrasted with our behavior a year 
ago in like conditions, and we shall thus be able to 
determine whether we are getting on, whether we 
are static or dynamic. The pleasure of reading his- 
tory lies in the opportunity it affords for noting the 
behavior of people in either ordinary or extraordi- 
nary circumstances. A school-boy once told his 
teacher that he felt personally acquainted with all 
the great generals who figured in the Civil War. 
He had evidently differentiated them from one an- 
other and had watched the behavior of each one. In 
this way, the individuality of each one stood forth 
in bold relief, and the boy knew them not only by 
their names but also by their behavior. No one 

(140) 



BEHAVIOR. 141 

can read Motley's brilliant and stirring narrative 
"The Rise of the Dutch Republic" and not expe- 
rience a feeling akin to reverence for William the 
Silent. He is one of the most colossal figures in his- 
tory, and we judge him solely by his behavior. Na- 
poleon is one of the most extravagantly praised and, 
at the same time, the most caustically criticized 
characters in all history. This arises from the fact 
that his admirers fix their attention upon his be- 
havior in one set of conditions while his critics mark 
his behavior in another set of conditions. To his 
critics, his behavior in the case of Josephine more 
than negatives all his achievements in military af- 
fairs. Over against his splendid tomb in Paris are 
set the representations of him in the art gallery in 
Brussels. To one he is a fiend; to another, a 
demi-god. It all depends upon the angle from which 
we note his behavior. 

At Appomattox we find a definite set of con- 
ditions. The war is ended. Lee has surrendered. 
The smoke of battle has cleared away. The guns 
are silent. A Sabbath stillness broods over the 
land. Only the formalities of surrender remain to 
be observed. At this point in the narrative the 
careful reader begins his test for behavior. What 
will General Grant do ? The whole situation is elec- 
tric with possibilities. The careless reader of his- 
tory sees the pages of the book as if they were glass 
cases in a museum of antiquities. The alert reader 
sees in these same pages a great panorama passing 



142 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

in review. The museum presents no behavior; 
hence, the careless reader neither sees, nor feels, 
nor understands. He merely catalogues words as he 
would specimens in the museum. The reader who 
is alert for behavior finds the characters in his book 
instinct with life. His heart-beats quicken as he 
approaches the supreme moment at Appomattox. 
As if an eye-witness, he watches the eager throng, 
sees the battle-flags of both armies and the worn- 
out soldiers, and joins anxiously with all these in the 
question, What will Grant do? The world knows 
what he did, and applauds ; but only the reader who 
is testing for behavior can possible join in the ap- 
plause. 

Having discovered and estimated the behavior 
of one general in the hour of victory we have a 
standard by which to judge others, and we proceed 
to extend our inquiries, by raising questions as to 
what Miltiades did, what Themistocles did, what 
Alexander the Great did, what Julius Caesar did, 
what Hannibal did, and so on, until we have run the 
entire gamut of victorious generals. Now history 
begins to wake up for us, and there is a resurrec- 
tion from the dead that both thrills and fascinates. 

No longer is history a catalogue of names, but, 
rather, a procession of living, pulsating, men and 
women. No longer does the book seem as dull and 
inane as a city directory, but a great drama 
wherein the stage is vibrant with life, and where 
all the emotions and passions, of which the, human 



BEHAVIOR. 143 

soul is capable, are impelling the characters to ac- 
tion. In all this moving to and fro, in all the surg- 
ing back and forth of the people who compose this 
motley throng, the one thing our eyes are straining 
to see is behavior. This is the element that gives 
to history its piquancy and potency. 

What is true of history is equally true of liter- 
ature. A farmer lad once found himself in a set of 
conditions which included a bit of paper, a pen, and 
some ink and his reaction to this environment gave 
to the world that matchless poem "To Mary in 
Heaven." Other farmer boys have had better writ- 
ing materials than Robert Burns ever had but none 
of them has duplicated his behavior. His teacher, 
John Murdock, said this boy had no music in his 
soul and, so, could not anticipate his behavior in 
giving us "Tarn O'Shanter". All the literary mas- 
terpieces are but exponents of the behavior of the 
authors in given conditions. The kind of paper a 
man uses does not condition his behavior, nor yet 
the pen and ink. Shakespeare never used a foun- 
tain pen, but he wrote "Hamlet." Cicero had no 
pen at all, but he managed, somehow, to write words 
that are still read after the lapse of all the 
centuries. We are wont to estimate the behavior of 
authors by the behavior of the characters they de- 
pict. The reader who has appreciation is ever scan- 
ning the horizon in literature in a quest for be- 
havior. He listens to GoneriPs extravagant expres- 
sions of her love for her father, then to Regan's at- 



144 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

tempt to outdo her older sister in extravagance of 
language, but his senses are all really alert only 
when the king asks Cordelia what she has to say 
on the subject of love for her father. Then, after 
Cordelia has been disinherited, set adrift without 
resources, and the property has all been transferred 
to her two designing sisters, another situation de- 
velops that catches the intense interest of the reader 
who is looking for behavior. He sees the Duke of 
Burgundy, one of Cordelia's suitors, take his leave 
of her without emotion, and then centers his atten- 
tion upon the King of France, and when he hears 
this monarch say, 

"Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich, being poor, 
Most choice, forsaken, and most loved, despised," 

he knows this monarch to be a king at heart as 
well as in name ; and his judgment is based upon his 
behavior. And, later, when Lear is broken in body 
and mind and is in dire need of help and comfort, 
the reader turns his gaze again toward Cordelia 
and he is glad to find her true as evidenced by her 
behavior. 

A teacher had occasion to explain something to 
her class and did it with such clearness and ele- 
gance that a boy whispered to a class-mate "I wish 
I could make language behave like that." This boy 
expressed, in a naive way, the real meaning of lit- 
erature, and when we are earnestly striving to get 
at the real heart of literature we are searching for 



BEHAVIOR. 145 

behavior in the author and in the characters he por- 
trays. When Richard III is overthrown by Rich- 
mond; and, when Macbeth yields to the prowess of 
Macduff and Malcolm regains the throne of which 
he had been despoiled, we know that Shakespeare 
is a preacher as well as a dramatist, in that he con- 
demns the wrong and glorifies the right. When we 
come to know Enoch Arden we have a new estimate 
of Tennyson ; and, when the patient fidelity of Evan- 
geline is revealed to us, we can claim a more inti- 
mate acquaintance with Longfellow. 

The books tell us that the teacher's work is to so 
organize the activities of the school that they will 
function in behavior. The teacher has commenda- 
ble pride in the achievements of the men and wo- 
men who were once her boys and girls, and is glad 
to see their behavior reflecting credit upon their 
school and teachers. In some good measure, the be- 
havior of these men and women is an index to the 
behavior of their teachers. If their behavior is 
worthy, it is an evidence that the activities of the 
school were well and wisely organized. True, the 
influence of the home and their environment may 
avail to change or color the behavior of our pupils, 
but, if they come to the age of graduation from the 
schools, panoplied in uprightness of character, we 
may feel assured that they are reasonably safe. 

We look to the schools to furnish us with men 
and women who can write our books, build our rail- 
roads, develop our sciences, make discoveries that 

10 



146 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

will benefit humanity, make our homes more attrac- 
tive and happy, and contribute to the well-being 
and comfort of our people. These tasks, in all their 
ramifications and details, will constitute their be- 
havior. We may not be able, with certainty, to fore- 
cast the behavior of our pupils twenty years hence, 
but we can be certain that twelve years in school 
work, if the work is done well, will prove a contrib- 
uting cause in favor of right behavior. 

Myra Kelly affords an illustration of a teacher's 
behavior. Her pupils, in the main, were less prom- 
ising than most groups of children in our schools. 
Many of them were of foreign extraction and some 
of them had little or no acquaintance with the 
tenets of American civilization. In this respect 
they might well be termed raw material. But she 
was not daunted by this fact. She saw their needs, 
and these needs were her call to service. She 
worked with them and for them with unremitting 
zeal. She visited their homes and made friends 
with their parents and their neighbors. In short, 
she identified herself with their interests, and was 
their friend as well as teacher. They respected her 
and loved her, and, in her presence, unfolded as 
flowers in the sunlight. Thus she came to know 
them intimately; and because she knew them, in 
their difficulties, in their aspirations, in their sor- 
rows, and in their joys, she could write of them and 
give a faithful interpretation of their lives. She 
did not pose as a benefactress ; she was simply their 



BEHAVIOR. 147 

teacher. Her magazine articles and books have been 
widely read, and these are the outward manifesta- 
tions of her behavior. Her work is cited as an in- 
spiration and an encouragement to other teachers. 
Her behavior will ever shine resplendent, and give 
hope in times of discouragement. 

A girl fainted away in a school-room and was 
carried to the rest-room where a teacher ministered 
to her and tried to soothe her. The girl had been 
bereft of her mother three years before, and all her 
teachers supposed the wound had healed. But when 
the teacher, in her efforts to comfort her, asked, in 
a kindly way, what she wanted, she suddenly sprang 
to a sitting posture, and, with eyes aflame, cried, 
"I want my mother!" At such a time, the behavior 
of a teacher is either pitifully weak, or else, well- 
nigh divine. There are times, in the lives of most 
children, when their needs are above and beyond 
books and school exercises, and these are the times 
that test the soul of the teacher. If, in her evolu- 
tion, she has grown big enough to rise to such an 
occasion, her behavior must receive divine sanction. 

Into a country school, one bitterly cold morning, 
there came a little fellow crying with the cold. He 
was ill-clad and his toes protruded through stock- 
ings and shoes. The teacher knew how to proceed, 
in such a case, and soon he was ensconced upon her 
lap. He continued to sob, however, and when she 
asked him where he was cold he sobbed forth the 
reply "Down in my shoes!" That was an appeal 



148 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

that neither teacher nor pupils could withstand and, 
very soon, his feet, bared of shoes and stockings, 
were immersed in cold water and then chafed to 
ward off the effects of frost. Then the sobbing 
ceased and, in a short time, the little chap was 
asleep in the teacher's arms. Here was a teacher 
who could so organize the activities of the school 
that they functioned in behavior and the behavior 
of the entire school focused upon the major in- 
terest. Lessons could be neglected for a half hour 
when greater need arose. 

We may well inquire whether the activities of 
the school function in the right sort of behavior in 
the homes. Are the homes more sanitary and more 
artistic because of the school? Is the food in the 
homes more wholesome and more carefully prepared 
because of the school? Do parents and children 
hold cleanliness of body and of wearing apparel in 
higher esteem because of the school? Does fresh 
air come to be regarded as a necessity, night and 
day, because of the school ? Do the children's teeth, 
hair, nails, shoes, and clothing prove that the influ- 
ence of the school has permeated the homes? Are 
the children more healthy and more happy, and the 
parents wiser because of the school? 

In discussing behavior such questions as these 
arise inevitably, for they are the questions by which 
the teacher may test the efficacy of her work, and, 
also, determine whether she is meeting her own ex- 
pectations. Our work may fall below, but never 



BEHAVIOR. 149 

rises above our aspirations. The growing teacher 
is ever striving to excel herself, and to make the 
work of each day more productive than the work of 
the preceding day. If she finds the answers to 
these questions favorable, she may well take cour- 
age from this unimpeachable evidence that she is 
growing. 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 

MORAL TRAINING. 

Diogenes struck the father when the son swore. 

— Burton. 

IF, as has already been quoted in another chap- 
ter, it is immoral for any one to do less than 
his best, then, in this principle, we find a prac- 
tical working basis for moral training in the schools. 
A ready justification may be found for this princi- 
ple in the fact that man is endowed with a spark of 
divinity which marks his superiority to all other 
forms of animal creation. In this view of man's 
nature, education is the process of developing the 
divine principle to the utmost. Hence, anything 
short of this utmost is an offence against the divine 
essence and, so, is immoral. 

The teacher's large work, then, is to so organize 
all the elements of school activities that they will 
develop the child to such a degree that his divine 
nature shall predominate, shall be superior to his 
carnal nature. The principle upon which this con- 
cept of education is based is a high standard, as all 
must admit, but as Browning says: 

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp, 
Else what's a heaven for?" 
(150) 



MORAL TRAINING. 151 

Life is made up, in large measure, of struggles 
between the divine nature and the carnal nature 
that constitute the individual. Even Saint Paul ex- 
perienced these struggles for he says "When I 
would do good, evil is present with me", which is 
but saying that when the divine nature is straining 
toward mastery, the carnal nature holds it back. 
The old colored man at prayer meeting expressed 
the same thing when he said "Brethren, I can think 
more good in a minute than I can do in a week." 
When the tatterdemalion appears at school for the 
first time, a most unpromising bit of protoplasm, 
the teacher can not see in him any suggestion of 
divinity. It certainly is greatly obscured but, as a 
poet has said, 

"Such harmony is in immortal souls, 
But while this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly clothe it in 
We can not hear it." 

It requires large faith on the part of the teacher 
to set to work to enthrone the divine in such a child 
as that, but, without faith, she is not a teacher. 

The principle under consideration is of value be- 
cause of its universality. It applies to all phases of 
school work. A moment's contemplation of this 
principle will reveal the difficulty, if not impossi- 
bility, of grading deportment. The child is to do 
his best, not the best of a class-mate, not the best 
of the teacher. But teachers grade deportment by 



152 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

a common standard as if each child's best were the 
best of all children. One boy did his best yesterday 
and received a deportment grade of one hundred. 
Another did his best and received a grade of seven- 
ty-five. Today the first boy does less than his best 
and gets a grade of ninety, while the second boy 
extends his best of yesterday and still gets only 
eighty. A premium of ten per cent is put upon the 
boy, therefore, who does less than his best today, 
over the boy who is doing his best and is showing 
improvement. To grade deportment justly the 
teacher must be conversant with the life history of 
the child and with all the mysteries of atavism. 

Among the host of virtues that combine in 
morality, the one that makes appeal to the common 
mind, first of all, is honesty, which, in its com- 
monly accepted meaning, signifies the payment of 
debts. This ranks first, probably, because we are 
eager to impress upon people their obligation to 
ourselves. Honesty, in this sense, is entirely too 
restricted. Paying one's debts should be regarded 
as a form of politeness. But, even in this restricted 
sense, honesty may be made to apply to all the les- 
sons of the school. The arithmetic lesson for to- 
morrow, let us suppose, consists of ten problems. 
Now, these problems at once become an obligation 
upon each member of the class and the obligation 
is to the class as a whole. Will the pupil pay one 
hundred cents on the dollar or will he repudiate 
some of his debt, making an effort to compromise 



MORAL TRAINING. 153 

with his creditors at eighty cents on the dollar? 
The lesson thus becomes a business transaction 
and, if any pupil repudiates his debt, the resources 
and credit of the class suffer accordingly. The 
teacher explains that when a business man assumes 
an obligation, and finds difficulty in meeting it, there 
are two courses open to him; he must work harder 
and longer, or he must economize. He may do both, 
of course, but he must pay his debts. He can not 
hold up his head among his associates unless he 
does. Men will look askance at him and refuse to 
trust him, and any reasonable sacrifice is better 
than that. So, the work in arithmetic becomes a 
fine game in common, every-day honesty, and the 
ultimate records of the class will attest its value. 
It exemplifies again the oft-quoted statement of Dr. 
John Dewey that "School is not a preparation for 
life; school is life." The pupils of this class are 
working the same problem of business honesty that 
their fathers and mothers are working at, with like 
trouble and like joys. 

It is not possible, perhaps, to find opportunities 
for motor reactions for all the emotions that may 
be generated, but, in the matter of honest work, the 
way lies fairly open. Having elicited from the 
pupils a definition of an honest piece of work in 
which they can be led to stress the idea of its being 
the worker's best, the teacher calls for voluntary 
demonstrations of an honest piece of work. One 
boy proceeds to clean a section of the black-board 



154 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

as his contribution and, when the work is completed, 
asserts that it is his best. One of the girls volun- 
teers to arrange the top of the teacher's desk, leav- 
ing it scrupulously clean and every article in its 
rightful place and in proper order. Another girl 
takes the book-case as her task and soon has a re- 
arrangement of books that improves its appearance. 
At the conclusion of each task the teacher asks each 
pupil whether the work he has just completed is his 
best and receives a reply in the affirmative. This is 
important in that the question, in time, will come 
to be habitual and will recur to the child at the com- 
pletion of every piece of work. 

The boy who cleaned the section of black-board 
found it impossible to reach the top and so left a 
six-inch space untouched. Another boy, noticing 
this, volunteers to clean another section of the 
board, and, in order to render the work an illus- 
tration of his best, stands upon a chair and is thus 
able to reach the top. No comment is made upon 
the comparative merits of the results of these demon- 
strations but it is easy for the first boy to note the 
difference and tomorrow his best will excel his best 
of today. Indeed, each one reviews his own work, 
after it is finished, and discovers opportunities for 
improvement. Another trial would undoubtedly 
bring still better results. 

Many other demonstrations are given that need 
not be here described. Suffice it to say that these 
motor reactions serve to groove the idea of an hon- 



MORAL TRAINING. 155 

est piece of work into the consciousness of every 
pupil in the class, and, henceforth, they will have 
this idea with them wherever they may be or what- 
ever their work. In order to reinforce the grooving 
process and, at the same time, project the influence 
of the school into the community, the teacher sug- 
gests that they all report tomorrow, herself included, 
upon an honest piece of work that was performed 
at home in the interim. This plan has the advan- 
tage of freedom from the surveillance of the teacher 
with a larger range of choices than the school 
affords. Besides, it throws each one upon his own 
resources with full opportunity for the exercise of 
individual initiative. The reports that were made 
were both varied and ardent and included a wide 
range of tasks — washing dishes, setting the table, 
sweeping a room, making a bed, building a fire, 
milking a cow, bedding a horse, doing an errand, 
shining shoes, filling a coal-box, washing windows, 
mowing a lawn, spading a flower bed, and reading 
a story to an invalid. This last was the piece of 
work reported by the teacher, who closed her report 
with the remark that she did her best. Vicariously, 
each pupil performed each several piece of work as 
the reports were given, and the idea of an honest 
piece of work became, to each, a permanent and 
personal possession. 

All this can be done as an incidental part of the 
work in arithmetic and the mental alertness that 
is aroused by an exercise of this character adds to 



156 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

rather than subtracts from the interest and conse- 
quent success of the arithmetic work proper. The 
time thus employed is a gain to the regular work, 
not a loss. For the following day each pupil is asked 
to bring a report on some honest piece of work that 
has come under his own observation, and this 
affords a new approach, a view of the matter from a 
new angle, giving added zest to the exercise. In 
their quest for examples the pupils levy tribute 
from the entire meighborhood. Members of the 
family, neighbors, friends, relatives, and even 
strangers, with the work of each, are made subject 
to critical inspection. No immunity is given to any 
person, or to any piece of work. When the full im- 
port of this inspection becomes known, every worker 
in the community finds the idea of an honest piece 
of work taking root in his consciousness and this 
soon expands into a community consciousness. 
Thereafter, every worker in whatever field of en- 
deavor seems endowed with greater zeal and each 
one becomes a more critical inspector of his own 
work. 

Such a series of activities naturally functions in 
higher standards of work and increased fidelity to 
those standards. Each pupil becomes more critical 
of his every piece of work, and never permits a 
piece of work to pass from his hands until after a 
final testing with the question, "Is this my best?" 
He may incline to yield to the dictates of his own 
sophistry, at times, but the community conscious- 



MORAL TRAINING. 157 

ness holds him up to high standards and, also, to 
his best in the way of execution. The spirit of 
doing the best, and nothing less than the best, per- 
colates into every phase and detail of school work, 
and the teacher notes marked improvement in spell- 
ing, in writing, in grammar, in geography, in his- 
tory, in composition, in manual training, in domes- 
tic science and art, and, especially, in general 
conduct. Every pupil challenges himself at the door 
of the school and demands to know whether shoes, 
and personal appearance, in general, will bear 
inspection. Thus, the school-room is more nearly 
clean and more nearly artistic conditions obtain. 
These pupils are not constantly saying to themselves 
that it is immoral for us to do less than our best. Pos- 
sibly, the teacher has never expressed the principle 
in a formal way. What she has done is to ingrain 
the idea of honest work in their consciousness. She 
can well afford to waive the formal phrase, if only 
she can accomplish the real work. 

The application of our principle has been set 
forth at some length in order to show how moral 
training may be made a part of the warp and woof 
of regular school work without making it unduly 
formal. If, through the teaching of the schools, by 
some such method as has been suggested, the idea 
of an honest piece of work and of an honest day's 
work could be made to permeate every shop, every 
factory, every office, every store, and every home, 
fewer laws would be required to protect our citizens 



158 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

from the encroachments and machinations of dis- 
honesty and graft in whatever form or guise. It 
is not too much to hope that sometime in the future 
the idea of honest work, honest service, honest 
materials, and honest weights and measures, may- 
become ingrained in the national consciousness. 
Such a distinction would prove a proud possession. 
The housemaid said she knew she had been con- 
verted, because she did not sweep the dirt under the 
rugs any more. 

While it may be true, as some writers on this 
subject of moral training assert, that every emotion 
that is generated should have an opportunity pro- 
vided for a motor reaction in order that moral pre- 
cepts may function in conduct and so produce re- 
sults of permanent value ; still, it seems quite incred- 
ible that all these emotional impulses are a total 
loss. It seems past belief that all the honest tears 
that have been shed over the death of Little Nell 
were ephemeral and left no precipitation in the 
consciousness and character of those who have 
wept. When Abraham Lincoln was clerking in a 
general store, by some inadvertence, a mistake oc- 
curred in making change. After closing the store 
the young clerk walked three miles to the home of 
the customer to deliver to him the penny, the amount 
of money involved in the mistake. The boy who 
reads this story must retain some abiding influence 
in his life as the result of the story which will, in 
some degree, color his conduct in future days, or 



MORAL TRAINING. 159 

years, even though no immediate opportunity is 
presented to him to duplicate the conduct of Lincoln 
in restoring the penny. The opportunities for motor 
reactions are not so rare, perhaps, as some of these 
writers are willing to believe. Children have vivid 
imaginations and easily construct situations in 
which the reaction inevitably results. The Lincoln 
story suggests a store to the boy, and the re-enact- 
ment of all the events of the story follows easily. 

Pupils have almost daily opportunities to show 
respect for old age and infirmity, and suggestions 
by the teacher will almost certainly function in con- 
duct, before the day is done. A teacher in a city 
school once gave a little incidental talk on the sub- 
ject of courtesy, following up some sentiments 
expressed in the reading lesson, and that same 
afternoon on the way home from school in the street 
car several of the boys who heard the talk arose and 
proffered their seats to ladies, and touched their 
caps politely when the ladies acknowledged their 
courtesy. The emotion undeniably helps to open the 
eyes to opportunities for reactions. 

A well-known educator relates an incident of 
the sudden appearance of a kitten in his school one 
morning in the very midst of chapel exercises. 
Naturally, anything so unusual would throw the 
school into commotion and, in this particular case, 
the excitement was cumulative. The kitten sped 
from place to place, trying to escape the missiles that 
were showered upon it, while the pupils laughed 



160 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and yelled in a veritable Babel of confusion. The 
teacher was appalled and wondered whether his in- 
fluence could possibly avail to bring order out of the 
chaos that was becoming more chaotic every second. 
By a fortunate chance he finally secured possession 
of the kitten, and, stroking it gently to allay its fear, 
he began, in a conversational tone, to tell how the 
poor animal's heart was thumping, how it was 
trembling in his hands, and how, if it could but 
talk, it would tell of its awful experiences in the 
school. He went on to tell how the poor little thing 
was thinking that all boys were its mortal foes, 
how the good reputation of the school had suffered 
in the estimation of the kitten, and how it would 
take a long time to win back its good opinion. He 
then proposed that they adopt the kitten as the 
school mascot, offering to guarantee that it would 
bring them good luck. He gave in detail some of 
the ways by which this would come to pass, saying 
that, in their games of ball, every boy would play 
his best so as not to bring sorrow to the heart of the 
school kitten, for a defeat would certainly cause her 
grief. He further told how every pupil would study 
more diligently than ever before thinking that the 
kitten might be present in his class the next day and 
would be deeply humiliated if he failed to do well 
in the recitation. As the result of this talk by the 
principal the kitten was adopted with enthusiasm, 
was decorated with the school colors, money in 
abundance was provided for its maintenance, and 
every pupil became its ardent champion. 



MORAL TRAINING. 161 

In this case the man was wise enough and re- 
sourceful enough to take one set of conditions, and 
transform them into another set of conditions that 
afforded an opportunity for right reactions that 
rendered every pupil in the school a friend to dumb 
animals. Much, of course, depends upon the re- 
sourcefulness of the teacher in finding or making 
opportunities for speedy and proper reactions. 

Human conduct abounds in noble reactions that 
may be termed vicarious. Many a newsboy on the 
street, vending his wares, and many a waif seeking 
shelter in an alley, have received kindly treatment 
by passersby because they seemed the reincarnation 
of Little Jo, the street-sweeper in "Bleak House." 
As the giver of warmth, or food, or clothing passes 
on his way after his offices of kindness he seems to 
hear the voice out of the past, "He wuz good to me, 
he wuz" — and his heart is warmed and his step 
becomes more buoyant and elastic. The school read- 
ers teem with selections that glorify deeds of 
bravery, perseverance, sympathy, benevolence, gen- 
erosity, courage, and patriotism, and all these emo- 
tions are stirred that they may generate a higher 
type of conduct in the lives of the pupils. This may 
come through these vicarious reactions. Tiny Tim, 
in the estimation of all people who have read 
Dickens, stands for all children who must use 
crutches and all these children are the beneficiaries 
of the blessings that have come in answer to the 
prayer of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one." Hu- 
ll 



162 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

manity does the best it can for Tiny Tim by showing 
kindness to his prototype. "Inasmuch as ye did it 
unto the least of these," reinforces the psychological 
argument with scriptural. The teaching of Christ 
was done, for the most part, through the use of 
parables and all the reactions resulting from the 
emotions which these parables generated would 
necessarily be vicarious. The story of the Good 
Samaritan revealed to the world that the neighbor 
of every man and woman is the person who needs 
help in whatever form. So, whenever help is given 
and distress, or pain, or sorrow, or poverty relieved, 
we have an example of vicarious reaction. If Victor 
Hugo had done nothing else for the world than to 
give it Little Cosette he would still deserve a laurel 
wreath as a humanitarian. It is this little girl who 
points out the way to benevolence and kindness that 
leads into the lives of all homeless little girls who 
shrink under the harshness of tyranny. 

In moral training the problem element in teach- 
ing may be utilized to advantage the same as in 
other subjects as an aid in inspiring pupils to do 
their best. True, a moral judgment is but a part of 
the process and is no certain guarantee that conduct 
will square with this judgment, but that it is a part 
of the process is matter for encouragement. The 
decision in favor of a noble act fortifies the child, 
in some degree, or, at least, it serves to counteract 
any tendency in the opposite direction. Convicts 
will applaud the representation of noble deeds, as 



MORAL TRAINING. 163 

we all well know, and this proves that they are not 
wholly bad but have enough good in them to afford 
a basis for redemption. Their applause is a motor 
reaction that strengthens their moral fiber and, so, 
renders them less vulnerable to the assaults of temp- 
tation. 

Literature and history are rife with illustrations 
that may be used in giving a moral bent to teaching 
by means of the problem element. iEneas had been 
buffeted about on the sea for seven years after being 
expatriated through the devastation of war. He 
had suffered from hunger, cold, and shipwreck. He 
had been terrified by the fiery volcano, and menacing 
rocks, but, at length, after these and many other 
tortures of mind and body he finds himself safe in 
the harbor at Carthage. He is hospitably received 
and entertained by Queen Dido who is captivated by 
his personal graces and his qualities of heroism. 
Her sentiments are reciprocated. He is the guest 
of honor and revels in the delights of royal favor. 
While rejoicing in this surcease of trouble and 
basking in the smiles of the Queen, a messenger 
comes to tell him that Italy is his destination and 
not Carthage, and that his mission is to found a 
kingdom across the sea and not to dally at the court 
of Dido. The warning is imperative, rumpe moram. 
Now, the question is stated, and the issues fairly 
joined. What shall this man do? Shall he go where 
duty calls, even at great personal sacrifice, or shall 
he yield to the blandishments of pleasure? Let no 



164 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

one imagine that a decision is an easy matter. 
"Breaking Home Ties" is hard for him who goes 
and those who stay. Our poet has presented the 
same problem in "Excelsior." In such a case, the 
decision is the reaction, and the teacher should 
merely state the problem and leave the answer 
pending. 

In a certain county there are two cities between 
which an intense rivalry exists, so intense, indeed, 
that it permeates the schools and even the churches. 
Many people of both cities improve every opportu- 
nity to extol their own city as superior to the other, 
and take umbrage at any enthusiastic praise of the 
rival city. At a baseball game between the high 
school teams of these two. cities excitement was at 
fever stage, and the crowds were wildly cheering 
their respective teams. A boy came to bat and sent 
the ball far out into the field and ran for third base. 
The umpire called him safe, but brushing the dust 
from his clothing, he went to the bench, answering 
the protests of his team-mates by saying, "The um- 
pire couldn't see; I'm out," and lost the game for 
his team. Did he do right or wrong? 

A little girl in Japan was sent upon an errand 
and, in her absence, her father's store was looted 
and the goods and coins scattered all about. On 
her way home she found one of the coins, not know- 
ing whence it came. It seems to be unlawful for any 
one to come into possession of coins, in that way, 



MORAL TRAINING. 165 

and she was haled into court. Asked how and 
where she obtained the coin, she made no reply, 
divining that, in some way, the coin had some con- 
nection with her father's misfortune. The magis- 
trate again insisted that she should make reply to 
his question, but to no purpose. Finally, he threat- 
ened her with punishment, and the people in the 
court noticed that streams of blood spurted from 
the corners of her mouth. Rather than take the risk 
of jeopardizing her father's interests she had delib- 
erately bitten through her tongue. Is her act to be 
commended or condemned? Of course, every one 
commends the abstract quality of fidelity, but here 
is a concrete case, the pupils are the jury, and they 
must render a decision. They can not change the 
facts, but must decide upon the evidence. The 
teacher is free to make the matter personal, if she 
likes, but the final verdict must emanate from the 
pupils. This verdict will constitute a reaction 
whose groove in consciousness will not be effaced 
by the years. 

Ruth will ever shine forth as the incarnation of 
fidelity, and her words to her mother-in-law, Naomi, 
"Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from 
following after thee" — will form the halo above her 
so long as language endures. 

Such problems epitomize daily experiences, it 
may be, with which pupils are more or less conver- 
sant, and their use in the class for the purposes of 



166 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

incidental instruction may serve to unlock a store- 
house of personal experiences or observations that 
may be used for further illustration. 

In Philadelphia free breakfasts were provided 
for a group of children in one of the schools. All 
the children of the group gained in weight and 
strength save one little girl. Upon careful investi- 
gation, it was found that, instead of eating the 
breakfast that was brought to her, she took it 
secretly to her little brother in an adjoining room. 
Did she do right or wrong? Was she doing her 
best? Is self-preservation the first law of life? 
Shall we praise or blame Sidney Carton in "A Tale 
of Two Cities?" 

The story of Jepthah's daughter, the nameless 
heroine of the Bible, presents another problem of 
deep significance. Abraham's making ready the 
altar for the offering up of his boy as a sacrifice is 
another, and the story of Esther is still another. 
True, these stories date back to remote times, but 
the qualities of obedience, courage, fidelity, and the 
other virtues that constitute morality do not change. 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 
APPRECIATION. 

All earth is crammed with heaven; 
And every common bush afire with God; 
But only he who knows takes off his shoes. 

— Mrs. Browning. 

IT would be difficult to over-estimate the value, 
to the teacher, of the quality of appreciation. 
Considered either as a natural gift or as an 
acquisition it is one of the fundamental qualifications 
in the work of teaching. Without appreciation 
there can be no enthusiasm, and, without enthusiasm 
there is no real teaching. Children have enthusiasm 
and the teacher must meet their enthusiasm with 
her own or she represses and depresses them and 
the teaching process does not thrive in such condi- 
tions. In the full fruition of educational hopes some 
method will have been devised by which we shall 
be able to test for appreciation as well as for 
scholarship, in the examination of teachers. When 
that time comes school officials who are seeking 
teachers will, undoubtedly, give preference to can- 
didates who rank high in this particular. 

The word has been but little used in books on 
teaching and the omission has been a loss. Writers 
and teachers will give it greater currency when they 

(167) 



168 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

come to know its full import and its far-reaching 
content. Its application to all the subjects of the 
school curriculum is one of the enticing lessons that 
lie just beyond us. The pupil may learn to spell the 
word fidelity, to give a clear definition, to give the 
etymology, and to use it correctly in a sentence, but 
all these are not enough. He still needs to emotion- 
alize it before it becomes a part of himself, and, 
until he does this, his knowledge of the word is in- 
complete. He must thrill under the word before it 
becomes a part of his working capital. It must be 
ingrained in the fiber of his being or it will not 
influence his conduct. When fidelity becomes as 
much a part of himself as the blood that courses 
through his body, he will fight to protect the good 
name of his mother, of his father, of his sister, or 
of his country. 

There are, at least, two men in the United States 
who can describe a dandelion in such a way that it 
becomes a veritable poem. Every root, every leaf, 
and every pistil becomes a stanza of this poem, and 
these men can hold an audience in rapt attention by 
the charm of their recital. Other botanists have a 
knowledge of the dandelion that is equally accurate 
and equally scientific but it lacks warmth and feel- 
ing. Hence, with them, knowledge is not power. 
It is coldly intellectual and lacks the glow that forms 
the medium of transmission. Luther Burbank is a 
scientist, but he has the power of vitalizing science 
so that it becomes a living thing. Neither knowl- 



APPRECIATION. 169 

edge nor the possessor of knowledge need be lifeless 
in order to be scientific. Agassiz was a master 
scientist but science was aglow with poetic beauty 
to him because of his power to appreciate. Tenny- 
son saw more in a flower than mere color and form 
as we learn from his oft-quoted stanza : 

Flower in a crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies ; — 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower, — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is. 

In this stanza, the poet points to the fact that, 
through the power to appreciate even a simple 
flower, we may rise to sublime heights in the realm 
of knowledge. Knowledge may fail to beget appre- 
ciation, but appreciation certainly clarifies and in- 
tensifies knowledge. 

The wide differences, in teaching power, among 
teachers of English are due not to differences in 
knowledge but to differences in appreciation. There 
are many who teach the mechanics of English, and 
do it well, but the number is far smaller who can 
teach the soul of the subject. Those who are expert 
in the matter of the mechanics of the subject devote 
so much time and consideration to the editor's notes 
in English classics that the fires of genius in the text 
seem to die out during the process. If editions 
without notes should supplant present editions, they 



170 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

would, at least, afford a test for the power of appre- 
ciation. It is a trite saying that, without some 
appreciation of art, a gallery is a meaningless place. 
This is quite as true of literature. A collection of 
books is not a library if it lacks an appreciative 
reader. If but one copy of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's 
Progress" had been published and that copy had 
been locked away from the eyes of mankind, it 
would not be literature today. Just as a hearing 
ear is essential in the production of sound, so the 
seeing eye is necessary in art, and the appreciative 
mind in literature. 

What is literature to one person is a jargon of 
words to another, all depending upon the person 
and not upon the book or the selection. The large 
task of the teacher of an English classic, therefore, 
is to cause this classic to appeal to her pupils as 
literature, either with or without the aid of notes. 
This she will be unable to do unless she, herself, 
feels the power which the writer meant to transmit 
through the medium of his words. She may be able 
to analyze the thoughts and get back to the original 
outline as it took form in the mind of the author; 
she may be an expert in etymology and resolve each 
word into its components; she may be able to ex- 
plain the grammatical relation of each word; but, 
if her teaching ends with analysis, she has failed 
in the most vital part of her work. Her work results 
merely in a house without a roof, and, therefore, no 
house. Her work must be synthetic as well as ana- 



APPRECIATION. 171 

lytic. She must re-create the emotions of the author 
in the minds of her pupils, or her work will be 
incomplete, and, therefore, of small value. Unless 
she can do this, she is not fitted for the teaching of 
English, if, indeed, she has an aptitude for the 
teaching of any subject. 

It seems a contradiction that the reading of 
pupils in the primary and grammar grades is far 
better than the reading of high school pupils. But 
the fact remains. This can be accounted for, only 
in part, by the changes in their physical structure 
at the high school age. In music we find pupils 
progressing regularly and symmetrically to the very 
close of the high school period. The same is true in 
art. But in reading we find a marked deterioration 
in all but exceptional pupils. In many classes in 
high school English much of the reading is mechan- 
ical, dull, and utterly lacking in color and spirit. 
The words seem not to convey either thought or 
emotion. The many exceptions to this style of read- 
ing prove the rule. 

Whether this is due to the introduction of college 
methods into the high school, or, whether the greater 
formality of the teaching tends to repress the nat- 
ural enthusiasm and buoyancy of the adolescent 
pupil, still remains an open question. A college pro- 
fessor visited a high school class in English which 
is taught by a woman of exceptional teaching power. 
He came from the class beaming with pleasure, and 
said it was one of the best class exercises in English 



172 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

he had ever seen. He attributed the success of the 
recitation to the alertness and enthusiasm of the 
teacher, adding that, with such a teacher, success 
is inevitable. The secret of her success lies in her 
power to appreciate not only the fine points in the 
lesson but also the boys and girls who compose her 
class. She has what Professor Palmer aptly terms 
in his book, "The Ideal Teacher," an "aptitude for 
vicariousness." This enables her to enter into the 
thoughts and feelings of the author, and, also, into 
the thoughts and feelings of her pupils and thus, 
reaching out a hand in each direction, she becomes 
the medium of communication between text and 
pupils. She has scholarship and this adds to her 
success as a wholesome human being. She knows 
and lives the distinction between scholarship and 
pedantry. Moreover, she is sincere in her enthusi- 
asms. Fictitious enthusiasm will not avail with 
young people. They detect what is spurious and 
reject it. Veneer does not attract them even though 
it is presented to them in the guise of appreciation. 
It is natural and proper to inquire whether the 
power to appreciate can be cultivated. Hawthorne 
has answered for us in his story of "The Great 
Stone Face." Indeed, education may be defined as 
the process of raising the level of appreciation. 
Theatrical managers try to educate people away 
from vaudeville up to legitimate drama. Musical 
artists strive to educate their audiences up to an 
appreciation of classical music. In his childhood 



APPRECIATION. 173 

Victor Hugo's concept of the sea was about the 
same, perhaps, as that of other children but the 
power of appreciation grew until he could write of 
the sea in the following words : 

"There are, indeed, men whose souls are like the sea. 
Those billows, that ebb and flood, that inexorable going and 
coming, that noise of all the winds, that blackness and that 
translucency, that vegetation peculiar to the deep, that de- 
mocracy of clouds in full hurricane, those eagles flecked 
with foam, those wonderful star-risings reflected in mys- 
terious agitation by millions of luminous wave-tops, — con- 
fused heads of the multitudinous sea, — the errant lightnings 
which seem to watch, those prodigious sobbings, those half- 
seen monsters, those nights of darkness broken by howlings, 
those furies, those frenzies, those torments, those rocks, 
those shipwrecks, those fleets crushing each other, mingling 
their human thunders with the divine thunders and staining 
the sea with blood; then that charm, that mildness, those 
festivals, those gay white sails, those fishing boats, those 
songs amid the uproar, those shining ports, those mists ris- 
ing from the shore, those cities at the horizon's edge, that 
deep blue of sky and water, that useful asperity, that bitter 
savor which keeps the world wholesome, that harsh salt 
without which all would putrefy; those wraths and those 
appeasements, that all in one, the unforeseen amid the 
changeless, the vast marvel of inexhaustibly varied monot- 
ony, that smoothness after an upheaval, those hells and 
those heavens of the unfathomed, infinite, ever-moving deep, 
— all this may exist in a mind, and then that mind is called 
genius, and you have iEschylus, you have Isaiah, you have 
Juvenal, you have Dante, you have Michael Angelo, you have 
Shakespeare; and it is all one whether you look at these 
souls or at the sea." 



174 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

The teacher of language who has the power of 
appreciation and can impart it to her pupils can 
make the language she teaches, whether Latin, 
Greek, German, French, or Spanish, far more and 
better than a mere labyrinth of grammatical con- 
structions. It is quite possible for such a teacher 
to lead her pupils to an appreciation of the beauties 
of the Greek verb or the fine shades of meaning 
expressed by the ablatives and datives in Latin. The 
German savant said to his son as he lay dying, "My 
boy, if I had my life to live over again, I would de- 
vote it all to the Dative Case." To the pupil of the 
Latin class these datives and ablatives may seem the 
very acme of drudgery, but to this German scholar 
they were full of interest and charm. It is the high 
privilege of the teacher to invest these details of lan- 
guage study with like interest and charm for her 
pupils. If she regards the ablative as a bugbear it 
will not disappoint her and very soon her pupils will 
share her feeling. But, if she finds joy in contem- 
plating the niceties of ablative constructions, she 
will find her pupils inspired by her enthusiasm. It 
is inconceivable that the pupils will rise above the 
teacher's level of appreciation. 

A teacher of arithmetic, in a district school, gen- 
erates as much enthusiasm in decimals as in the ball 
game at recess, even though this subject is generally 
considered prosaic. When the class is called there 
are no laggards, and no extraneous elements need to 
be injected into the recitation to keep the interest 



APPRECIATION. 175 

up to white heat. Another teacher might find the 
subject insufferably dull; not so this teacher. Her 
fine enthusiasm over-rides all obstacles and her 
pupils join in the chase with a zeal akin to frenzy. 
There is no need for efficiency tests in a school where 
such teaching as this is in progress. If all teachers 
were endowed with her measure of enthusiasm, the 
efficiency expert would need to seek other fields of 
endeavor. 

Let us take the case of a boy who is reared in a 
level, prairie district of Illinois, and never passes 
beyond the limits of his own county. Can a boy 
thus reared appreciate the meaning of mountains? 
If not, then he must go through life void of all emo- 
tion whenever he reads or hears of mountains. In 
other words, can a child be taught to appreciate 
what he does not see ? If the prairie lad is to know 
of the sea, of mountains, of volcanoes, of valleys, 
and of forests, by what process of teaching is he to 
enter into the full meaning of all these? He may 
come to visualize them in some degree, at least, but 
how can he be brought to emotionalize them? Do 
any billows of emotion agitate the calm of Helen 
Keller's soul when she spells out the names of rivers, 
of mountains, and of oceans ? If so, by what method 
of spiritual legerdemain did her teacher impart to 
her this power to appreciate? She must have a 
feeling for nature's aspects and, if so, she must have 
imbibed it from her teachers. No other way was 
possible, and even this was possible only on the 



176 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

assumption that her teachers have large powers of 
appreciation. 

Geography furnishes a field of great fertility in 
which to cultivate the sentiment of appreciation. 
Natural phenomena in endless variety greet our 
senses at every turn. Only the dormant soul fails 
to thrill at the stealing in of the dawn, at the muta- 
tions of the clouds, at the tossing of the waves, at 
the mysteries of rain, snow, frost, dew, and ice, at 
the madly leaping cataract, at the marvel of evapo- 
ration, and at the change of seasons. To the one 
who appreciates, the sunrise is a miracle and erosion 
a great drama. The following quotation is given as 
evidence of appreciation of the wonders of geog- 
raphy : 

"God formed the earth and the world out of chaos, 

And that was architecture; 

He builded the mountains with their minarets and towers, 

And that was sculpture; 

He tinted the sea and carpeted the earth with green, 

And He placed His rainbow of promise in the sky, 

That was painting; 

He created the birds and the water-falls, 

And that was music. 

He peopled the earth with countless millions of human beings, 

And that was the everlasting drama of human life." 

The teacher of geography can find inspiration 
for her work in the green of the grass, the blue of 
the sky, the twinkling of the stars, the roll of the 
thunder, the shapes and colors of the leaves, the 



APPRECIATION. 177 

songs and plumage of the birds, the music of the 
insects, and the sun-flecked grass beneath the trees. 
Many of these pictures are framed by the window 
of her school-room. She may read of the shades of 
green on the boles of the trees in the forest that 
environs the House in the Woods at The Hague, but 
she has a tree in full view near her school which 
presents a similar picture. She may read of the 
avalanche that overwhelmed the troops and horses 
of Hannibal in the Alps, but she has an avalanche 
in miniature in every snow-slide from the roof of 
her school-house. In brief, she need not move from 
the door of her school in order to witness a pano- 
rama of nature's wonders, if her eyes are open. If 
she is merely teaching a book the great out-of-doors 
will make no appeal, but if she is teaching geog- 
raphy with the help of a book, then she will lay all 
nature under tribute for her illustrations, and the 
doors and windows of her school will be the avenues 
through which nature will walk into her work, giv- 
ing help and inspiration. The little girl in the book, 
Laddie, expresses it thus : 

"Schoolhouses are made wrong. If they must be, they 
should be built in the woods pasture beside a stream, where 
you could wade, swim, and be comfortable in summer, and 
slide and skate in winter. The windows should be cut to 
the floor, and stand wide open, so the birds and butterflies 
could pass through. You ought to learn your geography by 
climbing a hill, walking through a valley, wading creeks, 
making islands in them, and promontories, capes, and penin- 
sulas along the bank. You should do your arithmetic sitting 

12 



178 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

under trees adding hickory nuts, subtracting walnuts, mul- 
tiplying butternuts, and dividing hazelnuts. You could use 
apples for fractions, and tin cups for liquid measure. You 
could spell everything in sight and this would teach you 
words that are really used in the world." 

The teacher with appreciation will reconstruct 
the teaching of geography and so obviate the need 
for reconstructing the school-house. Her materials 
lie all about her, and she needs only to speak to 
them with a voice of appreciation to cause them to 
spring into vigorous life and move at her behest. 
These materials become dynamic under the touch of 
her magic and hasten to do her bidding. Whatever 
may be said of other subjects, geography, in par- 
ticular, lends itself to the development of the power 
of appreciation. 

Agriculture is one of the phases of geography, 
and, as such, presents itself to the teacher in most 
alluring mien. It has a commercial aspect which 
is highly important and is worthy of emphasis. It 
has a vocational side, also, which should receive its 
full measure of consideration. Then, it has still 
another side which lies within the range of appre- 
ciation and includes the ethical phase. Every 
teacher of the subject will do well to read "Adven- 
tures in Contentment" and "The Friendly Road," 
by David Grayson, in order to have a fuller appre- 
ciation of the dignity and fascination of life close 
to the soil. There is no teaching of agriculture, 
worthy the name of teaching, which does not extend 



APPRECIATION. 179 

beyond and below its surface interests. To enjoy 
the fragrance of the cherry tree in full bloom does 
not diminish the yield of fruit. To find poetry in 
the turning furrow does not detract from the fer- 
tility of the field. To listen to the music of the 
poultry yard may be induced by other motives than 
the price of eggs. A man may be a successful tiller 
of the soil and, also, a gentleman, a scholar, and a 
poet. To the teacher of agriculture, wheat fields 
should mean more than well-filled granaries and a 
large bank account. The orchard should mean more 
than abounding bins. Good roads should mean more 
than aids to commerce. In the cultivation of the 
power to appreciate, in connection with agriculture, 
we shall find the solution of the country life prob- 
lem. In the solution of this problem we shall include 
the country church, the country school, and the 
country home; and the solution of this problem is 
worthy the best efforts of scholars, statesmen, and 
philanthropists. 

To be sure, we need to inculcate the principles 
of scientific farming. Otherwise, we shall make no 
headway in our efforts to gender appreciation. 
Hap-hazard, slipshod farming disfigures the land- 
scape and makes no contribution to the feeling for 
beauty and order. But when the magic hand of 
science touches the soil it fructifies the fields and 
gives exuberance to the farmer. Hence, the teacher 
who aspires to large success in teaching agriculture 
needs to acquaint himself with the science of the 



180 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

subject in order to experience and to communicate 
to his pupils at least a modicum of appreciation. 

The teacher of art has conditions that are favor- 
able to the generation, in her pupils, of the power 
to appreciate. Every attempt to reproduce form, 
or shade, or color serves to groove impressions more 
deeply into the consciousness of the child. We are 
told that there is no impression without expression, 
and this is often interpreted to mean that every im- 
pression we receive strives for expression. But the 
converse of this is more especially true. Every 
expression tends to induce, define, and intensify 
impression. The child expresses on paper what he 
sees and, at once, his eyes are opened and he sees 
form and shade as he did not see it before, and 
gradually there comes into his consciousness a well- 
defined concept of the object before him. Hence, 
the impression was not clear until after the expres- 
sion. A feeling for and an appreciation of art is 
produced in this way. The child's own efforts 
clarify his vision and he conceives an insight into the 
difficulties that attended the work of the artist. By 
successive stages, he makes explorations through all 
these difficulties into the heart of the production and 
finds in himself an appreciation of the glory of 
the achievement. As the child thus progresses his 
standards rise and the things that once appealed to 
him now seem commonplace or grotesque. The 
decorations in his room disappear and better ones 
take their places. The wall-paper that once seemed 



APPRECIATION. 181 

beautiful to him has become ugly, and offends his 
sensibilities. These changes in his environment are 
but the outward manifestations of the changes in 
his mind. 

The pictures and other decorations of a school- 
room show the level of appreciation of the teacher 
in what is artistic. The teacher of high standards 
will not tolerate the bizarre. It makes her uncom- 
fortable if not unhappy and, besides, impedes and 
neutralizes her efforts in behalf of the children. She 
will purchase pictures with her own funds rather 
than have the walls of her school bare of pictures 
or disfigured with what is cheap and inartistic. To 
such a teacher education has to do with the true, 
the beautiful, and the good, and if one of these ele- 
ments is lacking, the symmetry is marred. Some 
one, whose standards are below her own, may have 
authority to decide upon the tints for the walls, but 
she has control in the matter of decorations, and she 
feels that, if these are less than artistic, she is sin- 
ning against the children and against her own better 
self. She feels, too, that the reflex influence of her 
work in trying to raise the level of appreciation will 
result in better home conditions in the community, 
better sanitation, cleaner streets and alleys, better 
country roads, and greater comfort and happiness. 

Appreciation reaches its highest and best in its 
application to people, whether they be the people in 
history and literature, the people in our schools, or 
the people of the community. Saint Paul admon- 



182 THE EVOLUTION OP THE TEACHER. 

ished the Romans to ' 'Rejoice with them that do 
rejoice, and weep with them that weep," but this 
can not be done if we lack the power to appreciate. 
If we appreciate the gentle consideration of General 
Grant for his defeated rival, and his magnanimity 
to the soldiers of the South in giving them back 
their horses because they would need them in the 
spring ploughing ; and, if we appreciate the dignity, 
the nobility, and the manly sincerity of General Lee, 
the surrender at Appomattox becomes to us a dra- 
matic incident of compelling import. If we appre- 
ciate the slender resources of Samuel Adams 
through all the troublous times in which he was 
conspicuous, we shall better understand the measure 
of his service for the Colonies and why he was 
styled "The Father of the American Revolution." 
If we appreciate the difficulties in the pathway of 
our pupils, the poverty, it may be, the lack of sym- 
pathy on the part of parents, and the limitations of 
the pupils, themselves, we have a starting-point for 
effective teaching. If we appreciate the manifold 
perplexities that fill the days and nights of the 
superintendent of the schools in which we teach, 
how often he acts as the buffer for us, receiving the 
criticisms and innuendoes that were intended for 
us, and how often he smooths the difficulties in our 
paths, — if we have an appreciation of all these 
things, our hearts will warm for him and our work 
will be done with a finer zeal. 

If we appreciate the trials and discouragements 



APPRECIATION. 183 

of our colleagues, the sickness in their homes, their 
physical disabilities, the misfortune that comes 
through no fault of their own, criticism will die 
upon our lips and give way to praise. We shall not 
try to foist upon them responsibilities that belong 
to ourselves. Furthermore, we shall give expression 
to our appreciation, knowing that we shall thus 
help to lighten the burdens of our pupils, our super- 
intendent, and our colleagues, and that this expres- 
sion will deepen and broaden our own power to 
appreciate. 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 
SCHOOL SPIRIT. 

Stars light their torches in the sky; and the sky is wider 
and higher than the stars. — Quayle. 

TO generate a wholesome school spirit is fine 
art. The spirit of the school, whether good 
or bad, is not fortuitous. Whatever its 
character it may be traced to a cause. It is neither 
spasmodic nor ephemeral. It comes as a growth 
and tends to persist. If the spirit is bad, it would 
be easy to attribute it to the depravity of the chil- 
dren but for the fact that, in another school where 
there is an equal degree of natural depravity, the 
spirit of the school is good. The visitor to a school 
senses the spirit at once and estimates the school 
accordingly. He may not take the time and trouble 
to seek out causes but pronounces the school either 
good or bad, according to the spirit that obtains. 
Moreover, he may not be able to specify all the 
details that led him to form his judgment, but, so 
far as he, himself, is concerned, this judgment may 
not easily be repealed or revoked. His decree stands 
irrevocable for or against the school. He may be 
at some pains to justify his judgment, but his first 
impression abides. A visitor once became an unwill- 
ing witness to a fight on a school play-ground, and, 

(184) 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 185 

years afterward, he said he instinctively shuddered 
whenever the school was mentioned, although, in 
general, it bears a good reputation. 

One boorish boy or one hoidenish girl may give 
to the visitor an unfavorable impression of the 
school that can not be effaced by a half-dozen excel- 
lent recitations. All this is adduced in order to 
show that the reputation of the school depends upon 
the spirit as it reveals itself to the eye. Grave in- 
justice may be done to the real character of the 
school by such judgments on surface indications but 
first impressions are never easily dislodged. It may 
require years to disabuse the minds of people of the 
correctness of their impressions. A single manifes- 
tation of rowdyism may annul, in the minds of the 
people in the community, all the good work of the 
school for the entire year. 

The bearing of pupils on their way to or from 
school creates an abiding impression upon the minds 
of the people. If disorder occurs as children are 
passing from their homes to the school, the neigh- 
bors, with unreasoning perversity, charge it to the 
account of the school and not the homes from which 
these pupils have just come. The school seems to 
them an impersonal institution and so is able to 
bear the responsibility for all childish peccadillos; 
whereas, if the cause of disorder were laid at the 
doors of the homes, some acrimony might develop, 
and unpleasantness must be avoided, even if the 
reputation of the school suffers. A mother once 



186 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

complained to the principal of a school that pilfering 
was going on in the school and added that the school 
had a very bad reputation. When the principal 
reminded her that the reputation of the school, 
whether good or bad, attached itself to her two chil- 
dren quite as much as to the others, she seemed to 
get a new view of what is meant by the reputation 
of a school. She had evidently been thinking that 
her two children were exempt from all responsi- 
bility, but the remark of the principal disillusioned 
her. Not until parents realize that their children 
can not gain immunity from the reputation of the 
school, shall we have that coordination of home and 
school that makes for sympathetic cooperation. 

In the expression, esprit de corps, we have a fit- 
ting and convenient phrase by which to characterize 
the spirit of the school. This phrase is defined as 
"the animating spirit of a collective body," and 
seems sufficiently comprehensive. In the nature of 
things, the teacher creates and fosters this animat- 
ing spirit of this collective body. There is no ap- 
paratus or school appliances that can be called into 
requisition in the performance of this work. She 
has no working model, no blueprints, no maps or 
charts, and not even printed directions. In all 
other phases of school work the course is charted 
with more or less clearness and completeness. But, 
in this phase, she has neither chart nor compass, 
and no reliable or standardized precedents. She 
has visited schools that have the right sort of school 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 187 

spirit, but neither teacher nor pupils could give her 
any clue to the method in its propagation. So far 
as the pupils were concerned, they saw no explan- 
ation and did not need one. They accepted it as a 
matter of course, as the right and inevitable condi- 
tion. When pressed for some explanation, the pupils 
said that conditions could not be other than they 
were, because the teacher would not want them 
different. Here we have the crux of the whole matter. 

But the teacher gains no help from this source 
for her task, and is still without sail or rudder. 
She knows there is a port somewhere in the dis- 
tance but knows not how she is to reach it on this 
uncharted sea. One teacher, in a city building, 
made serious complaint, to a colleague, of the con- 
duct of a class of boys who had just passed from 
her room into the room of the teacher to whom she 
made complaint. Whereupon, this teacher replied 
to her, "Why, I am surprised. They are always per- 
fect little gentlemen in my room." The difference 
was clearly in the teachers and not in the boys. 

The teacher, then, must be the determining 
cause in generating school spirit whether she wills 
it so or not. The obligation is laid upon her and 
she can not escape it. The board of education can 
not do this work for her, nor can the superintendent, 
nor yet her associate teachers. Here is a stretch of 
the school road that she must travel alone. She will 
receive the plaudits of the board, of the superin- 
tendent, and of her fellow teachers if she succeeds ; 



188 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

but, in case of failure, there is no hand that can 
help. She can not shift this task to others. Nor, 
again, will excellent class-room instruction, on her 
part, redeem the situation. To say of her that she 
is an excellent teacher, but lacking in power to con- 
trol her school, is merely to soften the decree of 
banishment. 

In a school where the right spirit obtains there 
are many evidences of its presence. The attitude 
of pupils toward the school is incontrovertible. They 
regard their school as the most delightful place to 
be found, and rejoice in all its appointments and 
workings. They are glad to be in this school rather 
than in any other. They regard the location as ideal, 
the building itself as & sort of shrine, and the 
grounds as sacred from vandalism. To pluck one of 
their precious flowers, or break a twig from one of 
their shrubs would be next to sacrilege. The inte- 
rior of the school is to them a trust, not to be vio- 
lated. They have a personal and proprietary in- 
terest in every picture. They regard the erasers not 
as missiles but as possessions. The floors must have 
immunity from debris and they are prompt to penal- 
ize any chance offender. They arrange the furni- 
niture of the room in order and look with pride upon 
the results. The dictionary is treated with gentle 
consideration. Chalk was made for the blackboard 
and not for the floor, and the distinction is scrupu- 
lously observed. Lunches may be eaten in the room 
but no traces of them remain to convict of careless- 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 189 

ness or indifference. In fine, the school is their 
home with all of the attributes of a home, and to 
profane this home would be unpardonable. 

Another evidence of this school spirit may be 
found in the attitude of the pupils toward the 
teacher. To them she is the queen of their school 
kingdom and merits their unimpaired loyalty, for 
their queen can do no wrong. No breach of de- 
corum, in this school, ever meets a smile. The boys 
doff their caps upon coming into school as if they 
were entering a church. And, yet, there is neither 
repression nor depression. They are natural, whole- 
some children and attest this fact by their natural- 
ness of manner, speech, and laughter. They clearly 
distinguish between freedom and license. Should 
one member of the group trench too far toward 
license, the faces of his schoolmates call him back 
to safety. Discipline seems voluntary and auto- 
matic. There are rules and regulations, of course, 
but the boys and girls go blithely on their way as if 
there were no rules. Rules and policemen do not 
affright law-abiding people. 

Once again, the attitude of the pupils toward 
their work betokens the right school spirit. They 
are glad when the time for the recitation comes, and 
are equally glad to have the privilege of reciting, 
for they regard it as a privilege and look their grat- 
itude to the teacher when she grants them this 
favor. To refuse to take part in the recitation would 
be the same as refusing to join in the singing and 



190 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the responses in the church service. To them the 
recitation is an inspiring ceremony and not a task. 
Their school work is their major interest and must 
take precedence over every other interest. Their 
books are inviolate and success in class work is a 
form of courtesy to the teacher. Their interest is 
intense but never boisterous. Their attitude in class 
is as if they were the guests of the teacher in her 
drawing-room. Rudeness and coarseness languish 
in this class-room and indifference can not long sur- 
vive. Their regard for the teacher is such that les- 
sons must be learned and recited, and their conduct 
must be seemly, that they may not forfeit her 
esteem. 

This picture is not fanciful, but a faithful de- 
scription of a school that makes no claim to ideality. 
It must be admitted that it is a rare one, but such 
conditions are not impossible of attainment. Let it 
not be inferred that there is never a discordant note 
in this school, but the discord is soon lost in the pre- 
dominating harmony. One of the boys of this school 
said, "Whatever else you learn from this teacher, 
you are certain to learn how to be a gentleman." 
And yet the teacher does not moralize, and does not 
indulge in preachments at regular intervals. The 
spirit of the school obviates the necessity for any for- 
mal pronouncements on the subject of conduct. 
There is a preponderance of sentiment in favor of 
right conditions and no pupil can bring himself to 
go counter to this sentiment. He consults his own 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 191 

comfort and peace of mind, and conforms to the 
prevailing customs. 

Furthermore, the spirit of this school permeates 
the entire community with the pupils as the media 
of transmission. They learn the rights of property 
at school, and so are guilty of no acts of vandalism. 
They enjoy all their games to the full, and have 
their clean, wholesome fun, but vandalism is not fun 
to them and is wholly tabooed. In a game of ball, 
one of the boys, by some mischance, threw the ball 
through a window. At once the game was sus- 
pended, all the players rallied about the boy who 
was responsible for the accident, insisted upon 
sharing the expense of replacing the window, and 
resumed the game only when the matter had been 
adjusted to the complete satisfaction of the lady of 
the house. That evening she remarked to her hus- 
band that the boys were so fine and manly about the 
broken window she could almost wish that such ac- 
cidents would occur more frequently. 

In some localities property depreciates in value 
because of the proximity of a school, but, in this 
community, the reverse is true, and people are eager 
to have school reopen in September that they may 
have the pleasure of seeing the boys and girls again 
after the long vacation. 

The boys think it no hardship to suspend a game 
in order to care for some animal that needs help; 
and the Tiny Tim of the school is always sure of a 
free ride to the ball-field on the shoulders of one of 



192 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

his school-mates. There is exhibited, with apparent 
unconsciousness, a spirit of cooperation and helpful- 
ness. The school is not on one side and the neigh- 
borhood on the other, but they are both on the same 
side and each takes pride in the other. The children 
like the neighbors and the neighbors like the chil- 
dren. So, there are no feuds and no antagonisms. 
This same spirit of helpfulness is manifest in 
the homes. They practice it at school and so do not 
forget or neglect it when they reach home. It is 
the law of life to them. Making the school-room 
clean and tidy is but a prelude to the same sort of 
service at home. They laugh and sing at their work 
at school, upon proper occasions, and their work at 
home is a no less joyous experience. Hence, mother's 
tasks are made lighter for her by willing hands and 
singing hearts, and lessons come as the crown-piece 
of a happy day. Father grudges the time he must 
be absent from home in the evening, for the nar- 
ration of school events is always anticipated with 
eagerness. He knows full well that golden threads 
of optimism and good cheer will run through the 
narrative, and this amply compensates for the per- 
plexities of the day. The spirit of the school abounds 
in this home and touches every detail of domestic 
life. This spirit abides with the mother as she plies 
her tasks while the children are absent, and makes 
her welcome their return. This spirit goes with the 
father to his work, and throughout the day lingers 
with him as a genial presence. 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 193 

The ideals that are set forth in the preceding 
paragraphs are high, but not beyond reach. The 
composite school realizes all these, which is to say, 
that all the standards of excellence that are named 
can be found in some schools of all grades. Wher- 
ever these are found there is a teacher whose very 
presence is effective in producing the sort of school 
spirit that has been set forth. The spirit of the 
teacher is the source of this spirit in all these 
schools. She exhales influence and power. She has 
order without demanding it. She is music without 
words. 

Many such schools pass in review before the 
mind. Here is a city high school whose Principal is 
a man who is gentle but firm; who is the very soul 
of honor; who is a cultivated and cultured gentle- 
man; who is imbued with altruism; who has a fine 
sense of humor; who has "aptitude for vicarious- 
ness;" whose words are few but whose presence is 
felt even in silence; whose tones are mild and per- 
suasive, never explosive; Whose demeanor would 
grace a drawing-room every hour of the day; who 
has quiet dignity and never seems hurried ; who has 
due regard for his personal appearance without 
dandyism; whose fairness and frankness inspire 
confidence; and whom every pupil knows to be a 
friend. These qualities combine to produce an 
atmosphere that penetrates every room and every 
phase of school work. Teachers and pupils imbibe 
his spirit and reproduce it in all the activities of the 

13 



194 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

school. He does not need to be a martinet, for teach- 
ers and pupils, alike, seem to divine his wishes and 
even anticipate them. As a natural result the 
school is well-conditioned in every detail ; the teach- 
ers inspire the pupils to excellence in work and con- 
duct; and the pupils, themselves, are fine young 
ladies and gentlemen. 

Here, again, is a primary grade in a village 
where the spirit is equally praiseworthy. The room 
is decorated with pictures and flowers, all arranged 
artistically and with excellent taste. There is nothing 
in the room to offend the eye. The air is pure, the 
temperature is right, and the room clean. There 
are no dead leaves on the plants, no litter in any 
part of the room, no pictures hanging awry, no 
torn shades, no pencil sharpenings in evidence, and 
no promiscuous riffraff anywhere. Such plants are 
selected as will furnish blossoms throughout the 
year. These plants are tenderly cared for and repay 
with their beauty. The plants and other articles of 
decoration are rearranged each morning, because 
the teacher knows that sameness palls upon children. 
They crave variety, and, when they enter school 
each morning, they look at once to see what the new 
arrangement is, and exclaim at the beauty of the 
new order. In this way the teacher anchors their 
interest in the school, and makes them feel that every 
plant, every picture, and every motto belongs to 
them. When the teacher arranged dimity curtains 
at the windows, they regarded it as a personal favor 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 195 

and courtesy. This teacher treats the children with 
the same consideration which she accords the plants 
and they respond in kind. They grow and blossom 
under the treatment. Spirit is everywhere infec- 
tious. As is the spirit of the teacher, so is the spirit 
of the school. This teacher's voice never rises above 
the conversational tone, and the children are quiet 
in order to hear what she says, for they know that 
she never speaks unless she has something to say 
that is worth hearing. 

Her teaching is characterized by the same 
thoroughness, the same artistic touch, and the same 
delicate flavor that makes her room attractive. She 
has a quiet dignity that begets serenity. Wherever 
she is, that is the center of the room. The children 
look up to her as an oracle, and, unconsciously, imi- 
tate her. She never gushes in speaking to or of the 
children, for, in her estimation, that would be some- 
thing less than polite. She likes the children and 
they like her, and their sincere compact needs no 
words of explanation or emphasis. Pupils and 
teacher live together in that room, and so come to 
know what life is by experience. They may see some 
other phases of life outside the school but their ex- 
periences inside the school are real life. 

School spirit of the right sort is, by no means, 
confined to cities and villages. On the contrary, here 
is a school, located in the heart of the country, which 
affords an illustration of school spirit of a high 
order. The teacher is a young woman of innate 



196 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

refinement and generous enough in her impulses to 
adapt herself to conditions as she finds them. There 
is no snobbishness in her make-up. She considers 
herself fortunate in finding her work among such 
delightful pupils and parents. She is glad that she 
has had superior educational advantages in order 
that she may render better service. She deposits 
all her accomplishments as assets of the school and 
the community and does not regard them as marks 
of her own superiority. The portfolio of pictures 
she has accumulated, the books she has read and 
enjoyed, and the music she has learned — all these 
belong now to her school. She visits the homes of 
her pupils and is always a welcome guest, for she 
has a charm of manner, a degree of vivacious intel- 
ligence, and a buoyant responsiveness that ingra- 
tiate her with the parents. She romps with the 
little ones, helps the mother with her work, dis- 
cusses current events with the father, helps the girls 
in their candy-making, gives the boys helpful hints 
concerning lessons, and, thus, puts all members of 
the family at ease. She is honest, frank, cordial — 
and does not pose. So gracious is she in all her 
relations with the people with whom she lives, that 
they vie with one another in showing her attention. 
She is regaled with the choicest products of the 
farm; and the delicacies of the city become the 
staples of her menu. No longer can it be said of 
the building in which she teaches, 



SCHOOL SPIRIT. 197 

"Still sits the school-house by the road, 
A ragged beggar sunning," 

for she has transformed it into a thing of beauty, 
both inside and outside. Flowers and vines have 
sprung into being as if by magic, and her school 
has become the standard of beauty through all the 
neighborhood. In all this, she has the cooperation 
of pupils and patrons. One man brings rich soil for 
the school garden, another transfers trees from the 
grove to the school-grounds, the boys bring vines, 
and a neighborhood convention of willing workers 
convert the unsightly grounds into a beautiful gar- 
den. She modestly disclaims any large share in the 
work, but attributes the consummation of her plan- 
ning to the kindly cooperation of the good people. 
Certain it is that the school is the most conspicuous 
interest in the community; and the spirit of the 
school is but the ramified and amplified spirit of the 
teacher. 

A grammar grade in a small city is another dis- 
tinctive illustration. This room is cited and extolled 
throughout the entire city, and parents look forward 
with pleasure to the time when their children will 
come under this teacher's tuition. She knows some- 
thing of the reputation of her school and accounts 
for it by giving the credit to the pupils and parents. 
She avers that discipline is negligible with such chil- 
dren coming from such homes. It never occurs to her 
that another teacher might not find these same chil- 



198 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

dren so docile and so tractable. She takes no credit to 
herself, and is the only one who does not realize that 
the school is what it is because she is what she is. 
She seems not to know that the conduct of the chil- 
dren is the offspring of her spirit. She expects good 
things from her pupils and they do not disappoint 
her expectations. Children, as a rule, respond to the 
expectations of the teacher far more readily than to 
demands or commands. Moreover, these expecta- 
tions are made manifest by demeanor far more ef- 
fectively than by words. This teacher expects much, 
and receives much. She could expect no less, being 
what she is, and the children could give no less than 
the full measure of the teacher's expectations. So, 
the school moves on its pleasant course as harmoni- 
ously as a noble concert, with no discordant notes, 
because teacher and pupils alike are animated by 
the right spirit, and we say of such a school as this 
that the esprit de corps is nothing short of excellent. 



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 

The heart has reasons that reason does not understand. 

— Bossuet. 

EVERY organization that has for its object the 
placing of teachers, makes strict inquiry as 
to personality; every school board and 
superintendent make the same inquiry when seek- 
ing teachers. No one of these ever explains what 
is meant by the term. They assume, apparently, 
that everybody knows. We all have opinions on the 
subject but we can not be very specific even in our 
own private estimates. We can not say that, to 
have a good or a pleasing personality, one should be 
tall or short. Some tall people may have pleasing 
personalities; others, not. Some short people may 
be distinguished by charming personality; others, 
the reverse. Hence, it can not be a matter of 
stature, or weight, or complexion. It may include 
these, but it is not dependent upon them. 

Whatever it is, it is universally regarded as an 
invaluable asset to the teacher. Sometimes teachers 
fail, and very often their failure is attributed to a 
lack of personality. They may have scholarship of 
a high order, and many accomplishments, but all 
these do not avert failure. They leave the school, 

(199) 



200 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

discredited and disheartened, and may seek in vain 
for the cause of failure. 

All superintendents, in their quest for teachers, 
ask for a personal interview. A photograph will 
not suffice; nor will a record of scholarship in the 
form of certificate or license. Testimonials are read 
with interest, but the sine qua non is the personal 
interview. The reasons that superintendents give 
for rejecting candidates would make a racy chapter. 

One candidate talks too much; another says too 
little. One asks too many questions ; another seems 
too indifferent. One exploits himself too much ; an- 
other is too modest and diffident. The hat of one 
is too large; of another, too small. One inclines to 
prolong the interview; another is too ill at ease. 
One is a trifle too frank; another, too reserved. 
One is free to say how a school should be conducted ; 
another has no clearly defined opinions. 

The superintendent may give an evasive reply 
by saying that the candidate does not measure up, 
but, whatever his reason, he is trying to lay it at 
the door of personality. He has certain ideals in 
his mind, and the candidate must stand the test of 
these ideals. He may not be able to put these ideals 
into words, with any great degree of satisfaction to 
himself, but he readily decides whether the candi- 
date fits into his preconceived notion of what a 
teacher in his school ought to be. In selecting a 
teacher, his own reputation is at stake, and he can 
not afford to make a blunder. 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 201 

In his book, "Life and Education," Bishop Spald- 
ing says : "The teacher's personality far more than 
his learning, determines his value as an educator. 
The very presence of a brave, noble, generous, and 
cheerful man illumines and strengthens. He com- 
pels recognition and obedience though he neither 
speak nor command, and they who have known him 
never lose faith in human nature, or in the worth 
of knowledge and virtue." 

Since, then, this element of personality is con- 
sidered of such supreme importance, the teacher 
consults her own interest by giving it consideration. 
In the process of evolution which is dwelt upon in 
these pages, either directly or by implication, the 
teacher can not, with impunity, ignore this qual- 
ification for teaching. The colleges and normal 
schools do not give courses in this subject, but every 
lesson in all subjects should make some contribution 
to its development. Personality would seem to be 
the sum of all our personal attributes, and this sim- 
ple definition should enable us to take stock of our- 
selves and make a just invoice. 

In such an every-day affair as dress, we shall 
find a matter worthy of attention. A teacher of 
marked ability in the matter of discipline resigned 
her position to become a bride. In the course of 
two years, she became a widow, and resumed her 
place in the schools, wearing the garb of mourning. 
To her surprise the pupils did not respond to the 
plans that had formerly been so successful and she 



202 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

confided to the superintendent that she feared she 
was destined to failure. In a kindly manner, he 
suggested the addition of some color in the scheme 
of dress, to relieve the somber black. She adopted 
the suggestion, and the discipline improved at once. 

In a recent book, that deals with the boy prob- 
lem throughout, the author says: "I wonder that 
mothers have not made a study of the effects of 
color upon children. My change of dress in the 
evenings, from dark blue serge to cardinal silk, 
causes an even more pronounced change in the home 
atmosphere. Red, the color of life, certainly ap- 
peals to boys ; when I put on the cardinal dress, they 
love to stroke it with their hands, or to put their 
heads against my shoulders as I read." 

Dress is a personal affair, of course, but it may 
figure as an element of success or failure. The man 
who becomes alienated from the attentions of the 
barber, the manicurist, the clothes-presser, and the 
shoe-polisher, may encourage the formation of hab- 
its in the boys of his school that will not be a source 
of pride to him. 

Two men teachers, in a large city, were sus- 
pended because of negligence in this matter of per- 
sonal appearance. A city superintendent, in speak- 
ing of a teacher, says he has often felt inclined to 
suggest to her a change of dress-makers. 

Some one says, with force if not elegance, that 
if we can't be pure, we can, at least, be sanitary; 
and another has rather pointedly asked whether a 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 203 

manicure set should be included in a catalogue of a 
man's pedagogical equipment. If matters of attire 
and personal appearance avail in social and busi- 
ness circles, they are not negligible in the school, 
where imitation so largely obtains. 

How people got on before the bathroom became 
an essential in the home, will ever remain one of 
the deep mysteries of life. 

We have passed beyond the days of Ichabod 
Crane and the Hoosier Schoolmaster, and have come 
upon days when teachers are real folks with all the 
attendant responsibilities. A well-dressed, but not 
over-dressed woman, or a well-groomed man has a 
distinct advantage, in the work of teaching, over 
the one who is indifferent to personal appearance. 
Our bodies are a sacred trust, not to be lightly 
esteemed. Since the body is the home of the soul, 
we do violence to the divinity within us if we fail 
to care for its dwelling-place. As the home is the 
expression of its occupants, so the body is the ex- 
pression of the spirit, and a little soul, or mean 
spirit, has no place in the big work of teaching. 

The manner of the teacher is so all-embracing 
in its import that the word seems hardly to need a 
plural form. This may arise from the fact that 
we instinctively assume the plural as always applic- 
able to teachers. Now and then, however, one sees 
some breach of good manners on the part of the 
teacher, in the way of interrupting a pupil who is 
reciting, or in nagging pupils, or in loss of temper; 



204 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

but, for the most part, the tenets of good breeding 
are quite generally observed. There is, however, at 
times, a conscious politeness which is impoliteness, 
just as conscious modesty borders upon immodesty. 

Uriah Heep is consciously modest, and con- 
sciously polite; so the world hates him. He is one 
of the most despicable characters in literature, and 
we judge him by these traits. 

Genuine politeness needs no garnishing. It is 
of the heart, and not of the head, and so is spon- 
taneous. Conscious politeness causes one to look 
for an ulterior motive, while genuine politeness puts 
one at ease and produces a glow of geniality. 

When we reflect upon the manner of the teacher, 
a long list of descriptive adjectives comes to mind. 
His manner may be brusque, or curt, or explosive, 
or even combustible. Or, it may be the opposite 
of these. If a teacher is brusque, it may require 
heroic treatment to change the habit. If he is curt, 
he will certainly inflict many wounds upon sensitive 
natures. People may tell us that he is genial and 
affable under his forbidding exterior, but that fact 
does not obliterate the scars that are charged to his 
account. If he is sarcastic the bitterness which he 
engenders in the hearts of his pupils may rankle 
through the years. 

If he is explosive or volatile, his school will lack 
the elements of calmness and serenity so essential 
to success. If he lacks poise and stability ; if he has 
no compass by which to steer his course, his craft 
will encounter shoals or quicksands. 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 205 

Let no one ever underestimate the keenness of 
the American boy. If the teacher has a weak place 
in his armor, the boy will find it and make the most 
of it. Nothing more pathetic in school affairs can 
be found than the teacher's utter helplessness when 
he has become the toy and sport of his pupils. One 
such teacher left the school on Thursday evening 
and could not be persuaded to return on Friday to 
complete the week. In such a case the teacher's 
resignation becomes his passport to the realms of 
peace and rest. 

Occasions come when the teacher must assert 
himself in order to keep his self-respect, and, if he 
does this in a sensible way, he maintains his own 
self-respect and at the same time, wins the respect 
of his pupils. Surgery is sometimes necessary in 
the schools, but even surgery may be gentle, and 
kind, and free from bombast, sarcasm, and cruelty. 

The surgeon does his work to save life and not 
to exploit himself. His attention is focused upon 
his patient, and not upon his own reputation. 

A vacillating manner in the teacher is certain 
to forfeit the good opinion and the good-will of 
pupils. They think it a weakness. Strength chal- 
lenges their admiration, while weakness begets con- 
tempt. Lack of decision has been characterized as 
feeble-mindedness, whether in answering the call of 
the alarm-clock, the dinner bell, or the factory whis- 
tle. Punctuality is counted a cardinal virtue in all 
phases of life. "He who hesitates is lost" is an 
adage that aptly applies to the teacher. If he shows 



206 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

hesitation as to what he will do next; if he has no 
definite plan of work marked out for the day; if 
his program is spasmodic, hap-hazard and dis- 
jointed, his pupils will soon control the situation 
and dictate the order of business. 

The teacher that measures up to their standards 
must be masterful, both in plan and details. They 
will brook no zig-zag policy, but will greet it with 
scorn. They go straight to the heart of things and 
want their teacher to do the same. Anything short 
of this gives them the impression that the teacher 
distrusts his own ability, and that is fatal. He must 
have the master-key and know how and when to use 
it, or the school passes from his control. 

Gentleness and firmness are not incompatible, 
by any means. When General Grant said: "I will 
fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," he 
stated the case in the simplest possible way, and 
the whole North thrilled at his utterance. There is 
no bombast in the statement, and no rhetorical 
flourish, but a firmness as of Gibraltar. 

William the Silent won his sobriquet from his 
quiet demeanor and few words, but the world knows 
that he was firm as adamant. 

Noise and bluster are unseemly everywhere, and 
especially, in the school-room. 

A noisy teacher had the habit of pounding the 
desk with a ruler and shouting, "Order! Order! 
Order is Heaven's first law!" Whereupon, some 
pupil said to his neighbor, "Well, this certainly is 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 207 

not Heaven, then." The teacher, himself, was the 
most disorderly person in the room, and his bluster 
was laxity, not firmness. In case of need he could 
bring up no reserves, for he had none. He could 
not be firm because he lacked poise, repose, and 
reserve, the constituents of firmness. The teacher 
who has poise, repose, and reserve power can be 
and is both firm and gentle. 

Any teacher, who inclines to a bit of self-exami- 
nation in the matter of disposition, has a wide range 
of adjectives from which to make selections. As an 
experiment, a congenial group of teachers might 
prepare a list of adjectives that would be applicable 
to people of all varieties of dispositions, and then 
each one select from this list the adjectives that she 
considers applicable to herself. Then each one 
might make a list for every other member of the 
group. A comparison of these lists would be an 
interesting study. 

In such a list of adjectives we should probably 
find amiable, affable, morose, bright, sensible, 
crabbed, cheerful, morbid, alert, vivacious, snappy, 
moody, optimistic, sunny, sensitive, surly, frank, 
secretive, suspicious, and a host of others, one or 
more of which could be used in characterizing some 
one's disposition. 

If selections should be made from this list of 
the adjectives which each of us would like to have 
applied to himself, we should have a noble array of 
cheeriness, optimism, amiability, good sense and 



208 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

sunshine. Now, a person of pleasing personality- 
is one who possesses the qualities described by some 
adjectives to be found in this select list. 

A morbid or moody disposition will repel chil- 
dren, while a cheerful and sunny disposition will 
attract them and cause them to expand and unfold. 
Hence, a morbid teacher is an anomaly. A morbid 
disposition is abnormal and must arise from ill 
health. In such a case the physician should be con- 
sulted and his directions followed until the dispo- 
sition becomes normal. 

A morbid teacher is inclined to worry over trifles 
and over things that never did and never could hap- 
pen. Such people freely admit that nine out of ten 
of the things that disturb them never could happen, 
but continue to worry, possibly, because they fear 
that they might miss the one thing that may, per- 
chance, happen. 

The presence of children ought to prove an anti- 
dote for a disposition of this sort, but it is not 
always effective. A little boy came home from school 
one day and told his parents that his teacher had 
said to them that when there was anything to laugh 
at she would laugh with them, and then said, signifi- 
cantly, "but she never sees anything to laugh at." 

The world must seem a rather gloomy place to 
one who never sees anything to laugh at. How any 
one can live with a group of bright children for 
half an hour and not have her risibilities excited, is 
beyond comprehension. 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 209 

The teacher with good personality often laughs, 
and laughs heartily, but always laughs with the 
children and never at them. A hearty honest laugh 
is noble, and generous, and betokens depth and 
breadth of soul ; a giggle is an inane and superficial 
thing; and a professional smile is rank hypocrisy. 

When pupils and teacher laugh heartily together 
at something that is really mirth-provoking, they 
give evidence that they are all on the same side, 
and such unity and community of spirit is a whole- 
some condition. Clouds and gloom can not with- 
stand laughter, and a good laugh seems to flood 
the room with sunlight. The generous, amiable, 
and optimistic teacher will often join her pupils in 
a laugh at situations, but never at people. It would 
hurt her to have a laugh or even a smile at the 
expense of one of her pupils. That shows a mean 
spirit, and she is too generous for that. 

Her disposition exhales good cheer, joy, light, 
and buoyancy, and these qualities stimulate but 
never hurt. When she laughs her eyes join in the 
merriment, for they are honest eyes. They never 
look daggers while the mouth is smiling. Honest 
eyes will not do that. The pupils of such a teacher 
never "fear the Greeks even bearing gifts." 

This bright, alert, cheerful, affable teacher never 
permits herself to be on the defensive. That is a 
most uncomfortable position because it is so lone- 
some. People will think fairly well of us if we give 
them a chance. But if we shun them, because of 

14 



210 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

some fancied slight, they may think us peculiar, to 
say the least. The optimistic teacher believes in the 
pupils, and in the patrons of her school, and never 
thinks of ascribing pettiness to them. She can not 
be petty, herself, and so the word does not exist for 
her. Being thus generous in her impulses, and be- 
lieving so implicitly in the goodness, the kindness, 
and the bigness of people she is never on the de- 
fensive and so never experiences the discomfort of 
that position. She is not looking for slights and, 
thus, never receives them. 

It is a trite saying that we generally find what 
we are looking for. If we are looking for slights, 
we shall find them in disconcerting abundance; but 
if we are looking for kindness and good cheer we 
shall not look in vain. 

"The world is so full of a number of things, 
That I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 

The teacher of such a sunny disposition sings 
much, laughs much, loves ardently, hates cordially, 
prays fervently, believes in God, in people, and in 
herself, trusts the children, enjoys her food, her 
books, and her friends, sleeps well, gives of herself 
regally, plays joyously, and thinks teaching school 
is the best fun that can be had. She is never sus- 
picious, never querulous, lives the Golden Rule, 
stands for truth and right though the heavens fall, 
charms by her honest graces, wins and holds 
friends, proves that life is good, lives within her 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 211 

income, pays her bills promptly, and exemplifies in 
speech and actions winsome and wholesome person- 
ality. 

Tolerance is another element of personality that 
is becoming in a teacher. He has, in his care, chil- 
dren who represent many beliefs and affiliations, 
and his generous spirit will make room at the table 
for all these. The intolerant man can not do this, 
but bristles with his own opinions and beliefs to the 
discomfort of all about him. His party, his church, 
and his methods are major, while all others are 
negligible minors. He is impatient with any one 
who differs from him in politics, in religion, or in 
pedagogy and seems to think it a brave thing to 
extol himself and to disparage others. He is an 
admixture of egoism and egotism, and so is no 
expert in the use of the mantle of charity. 

On the other hand, the tolerant man concedes to 
every person the right to consult his own inclina- 
tions as to politics and religion, and does not obtrude 
his own convictions as the only right ones. The 
teacher has no right to make himself disagreeable, 
and the tolerant man is agreeable without abating 
anything of principle. People do not try to avoid 
him, for he is interested in them, and makes them 
comfortable in his presence. 

The poet Tupper wrote on "Tolerance" as fol- 
lows: 



212 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Thou canst not shape another's mind to suit thine own body, 
Think not, then, to be furnishing his brain with thy special 

notions. 
Charity walketh with a high step, and stumbleth not at a 

trifle; 
Charity hath keen eyes, but the lashes half conceal them; 
Charity is praised of all, and fear thou not that praise, 
God will not love thee less because men love thee more. 

Still another constituent of personality is the 
walk, or carriage. Walking is more than a moving 
from one place to another. Feeble-minded people 
can manage to accomplish that. To walk success- 
fully is a noble accomplishment. If the candidate 
were required to pass an examination in walking 
before a hundred witnesses, she might find it quite 
as trying as the test in arithmetic. Walking is not 
creeping along; neither is it shuffling. It is far 
better than either. It abounds in grace, in nobility, 
in buoyancy, and in inspiring purpose. It is neither 
apologetic nor defiant. To walk well is to show one's 
self as good as others, but no better. It is neither 
a patter, nor a clatter, but is stately, and masterful, 
though modest. The teacher who has a firm, honest, 
graceful walk and good carriage, has her battle half 
won. These are virtues that comport with the true 
dignity of the school-room, and the absence of either 
of these leaves something to be desired. 

To make no mention of the voice would be to 
omit one of the most important factors of person- 
ality. The young woman may dress well, walk well, 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 213 

and act well, but, if she can not talk well, we forget 
all her other charms in our surprise at the quality 
of her tones. But if she has a smooth, even, well- 
modulated voice, all her other graces are thereby- 
enhanced. A teacher was having serious trouble 
in the matter of discipline and had almost despaired 
of being able to control the situation, when a friend 
counseled her to take a course in voice culture. She 
followed the suggestion of her friend and the dis- 
cipline of her room showed immediate improvement. 
Her voice had been shrill and rasping and had been 
a source of irritation to her pupils, causing unpleas- 
ant reactions, but when the cause was removed the 
irritation ceased and disorder vanished. It is not 
easy for a teacher to listen to the sound of her own 
voice but practice in this sort of self-examination 
might often prove a blessing both to the teacher 
and her school. 

A high-pitched shrill voice is one of the most 
disagreeable sounds that greet the ears, and it is 
not surprising that a voice having this quality 
makes children restive. A lawyer could scarcely 
induce a jury to return a verdict in favor of his 
client, if his voice constantly irritated them during 
his speech. A nurse would soon lose her position 
in the hospital if her voice were so disagreeable 
as to cause distress and restlessness. The physician 
regards the nurse's voice as a valuable adjunct, and 
so it is if it has soothing qualities. 

The psychology of the voice in the court-room, 



214 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

and in the sick chamber applies with equal potency 
to the school-room. The lawyer's tones must be 
persuasive to be effective, and the same quality of 
voice promotes efficiency in the school. Serenity is 
the rich soil in which the spirit grows, and any in- 
fluence that mars serenity stifles spiritual develop- 
ment. The quiet, musical voice, with the curves of 
beauty which we call modulation, promotes growth ; 
the loud and discordant voice retards growth. The 
gentle, rich, insinuating, melodious voice of the 
teacher is a benison to the school and is a noble ally 
to her in her efforts to make the work of the school 
a symphony. 

Said a man who is philosophically inclined: 
"My equals and superiors will not offend me; my 
inferiors can not." If this bit of philosophy is 
defensible it affords a standard by which to gauge 
ourselves. If we take offense easily we place our- 
selves on a level with those who give offense. A 
teacher says she would take it as an affront if the 
superintendent should enter her room without re- 
moving his hat, but that she should not take it as an 
affront if the janitor should do the same. 

In this view of the matter, the teacher who is 
supersensitive is liable to make some revelations of 
himself that would not be to his credit, and that he 
would not enjoy hearing described. One need not 
be indurated in order to be free from proneness to 
take umbrage at every slightest provocation. The 
boy who seeks to annoy his teacher and succeeds 



THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY. 215 

in his attempt is encouraged, by his success, to a 
repetition; but, if he fails in his attempt, his very 
failure will prove a rebuke, and will discourage 
further attempts. The teacher who is self -centered, 
and finds it difficult to gain the point of view of 
others, is certain to find, in the work of teaching, 
many incitements to irritation; but if his gaze is 
turned outward, and not inward; if he is generous 
enough to adopt a give-and-take policy in his school ; 
if he can join with his pupils in a hearty laugh at 
his own mistakes; if he refuses to wear the pro- 
verbial chip on his shoulder; if he is able to prove 
himself superior to trifles and triflers, these in- 
citements will disappear, and community good-will 
and cooperation will pervade his school. 



CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 

There are flashes struck from midnights. 

— Browning. 

A COLLEGE president resigned his position 
but continued to reside in the city where the 
college is located. The only other member 
of his family was his grown daughter who acted 
as house-keeper. The father and daughter agreed 
upon a certain Wednesday evening as the time for 
having the new president and his wife come in to 
dine with them. The invitation was sent accord- 
ingly, and preparations were made for the following 
Wednesday evening. But on Tuesday evening the 
daughter saw the new president and his wife com- 
ing up the walk and divined at once that they had 
made a mistake as to the time. However, she met 
them graciously and welcomed them to the city and 
to their home. After the proper exchange of cour- 
tesies the daughter said, as a natural continuation 
of her words of welcome, "And we are so glad that 
we are to have you with us for dinner tomorrow 
evening." In a short time the guests took their 
leave and, when they reached home, smiled com- 
placently and congratulated themselves that they 
had managed the matter so adroitly that the young 

(216) 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 217 

lady had not discovered their mistake. While the 
young lady had made this discovery she managed 
to conceal it from them and so obviated embarrass- 
ment. 

This incident is given as an illustration of tact- 
fulness. The young lady might have greeted them 
at the door with a revelation of her discovery and 
arrogated to herself large credit for her keen dis- 
cernment. But the guests would have been humil- 
iated and would have attempted to explain the inex- 
plicable and the hostess would have gained nothing. 
Moreover, the dinner evening would have been some- 
thing less than completely successful. All these con- 
tingencies were averted by the delicate handling of 
the situation by the young lady who thus made a 
large contribution to the pleasure of four people, 
including herself. 

A little boy in a primary grade was greatly ab- 
sorbed in the task of making a paper chain and was 
so anxious to exhibit the finished product to himself 
and others, that he failed to allow sufficient time 
for the paste to become dry. After a few attempts, 
he became discouraged and greatly disturbed, and 
said, tearfully, to his teacher, "Miss Evans, every 
time I lift my chain up, it breaks." To this little 
fellow that was a very real calamity and, for the 
time being, took precedence of everything else in 
his life. Empires might be rising or falling, but 
that chain was his chief concern, the great interest 
in his thoughts. 



218 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Here was presented to the teacher an opportu- 
nity either to smooth out his difficulty and dissipate 
his troubles or to add more grief to his already 
over-burdened soul. The situation must be met at 
once; this was no time for Fabian policy; the oc- 
casion called for prompt action. The teacher's reply 
came on the instant, "Well, I wouldn't lift it up, 
then." At once, the sun broke through the clouds, 
in full splendor, and the little boy smiled up at the 
teacher, through his tears, and said with a note of 
joy in his voice, "Oh !" 

Simple as this incident may appear it was 
fraught with deep significance to the child. If the 
teacher had been impatient and testy instead of 
kind and sympathetic, she would have discouraged 
him in the work, which, at the moment, was im- 
portant enough to fill his whole horizon, and would 
have closed his mind against further persevering 
efforts to bring his task to completion. Days, or 
possibly weeks, might have been required to restore 
the confidence of the child and, during that time, no 
progress would have been made. 

Instinctively, the teacher did the right thing, 
encouraging and inspiriting the little fellow and 
giving him a helpful impetus in the right direction. 
The new zeal and the clearer intelligence which the 
teacher's tact induced soon brought the child's task 
to a successful issue and he was relieved from the 
humiliation and grief of failure. 

The making of a paper chain, in childhood, pre- 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 219 

figures the building of a railroad, in later life, and 
all the other great achievements that make for pro- 
gressive civilization. Hence, the necessity for incul- 
cating, in the mind of the child, the elements of 
patience, perseverance, and hope in all his childish 
efforts. 

One of the large tasks of the teacher is to lure 
the whole boy out of himself into the full glow of 
school influence during all the hours of every day 
of his school life. If part of the boy lurks in the 
shadowy realm of his own plans and purposes, that 
part of him may develop tendencies that will more 
than counter-balance the school influence and make 
him a menace to society. To do this requires un- 
ceasing vigilance and never-failing tact. 

In state-craft, tact is called diplomacy, and is 
considered a prime quality of statesmanship. Na- 
tions are jealous of their rights and prerogatives 
and, hence, international affairs require a high de- 
gree of subtlety and tact. A wrong interpretation 
of motives or conduct, or a wrong word in dealing 
with a situation, may lead to consequences both 
disastrous and far-reaching. A mis-step may em- 
broil nations in internecine strife. 

When Secretary Stanton insisted upon writing 
a caustic letter to England, protesting against the 
course of that country in giving aid to the South, 
and President Lincoln had been unable to dissuade 
him from his purpose, the situation became critical. 
Then, the President, as if yielding to the importu- 



220 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

nity of the Secretary, finally replied, "Well, Mr. 
Secretary, write the letter if you insist upon it, but 
don't send it." This reply relieved the tension, and 
no letter was written. Here, as also on many other 
occasions, the fine tact of President Lincoln averted 
trouble. 

The school regime epitomizes statecraft; the 
pupils are the powers in embryo, and the teacher is 
the wise and tactful diplomat whose duty and func- 
tion it is to preserve the harmony of these powers 
and stimulate each one to his utmost endeavors for 
the benefit of all. To establish and preserve this 
harmony is of first importance and necessarily pre- 
cedes and conditions effective work. 

A little boy appeared in the primary grade of 
a city school who had evidently been the victim of 
most unfortunate experiences. He seemed to have 
a mortal fear of every human creature. Whenever 
a pupil approached him he fled to the utmost limit 
of the room and stood at bay with a look of terror 
in his eyes. He shrank away from the teacher and 
would leave his desk and flee across the room at her 
every approach. Here was a situation that called 
for large patience and unremitting tactfulness on 
the part of the teacher. This little chap must be 
brought into harmonious relations with his fellows 
and with school conditions before any beginning, 
in the way of teaching, could be made. Force 
would not avail. He had already experienced that, 
perhaps, in the form of brutal treatment, if surface 
indications could be trusted. If anything could 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 221 

drive terror from his heart and bring joy into his 
face, that, assuredly, would be kindness applied in 
the most tactful ways. So the teacher left him, 
largely, to his own devices for some days, but took 
advantage of every incident, in the work of the 
school, to make the little fellow feel that he was 
among his friends, and that he need have no fear 
while they were about him. 

When his terror of people had so far abated that 
he would remain seated when the teacher passed his 
desk, she would sometimes place a book before him, 
as she passed, and would manage to have an at- 
tractive picture meet his gaze. At another time she 
would leave a bit of candy on his desk, or a fascin- 
ating toy. In such gentle ways, she finally suc- 
ceeded in allaying his fears, and in inspiring him 
with confidence. When, at last, she saw his eyes 
sparkle at her approach, and his face light up with 
pleasure, she felt amply repaid for all her efforts 
to win his confidence and allegiance. 

In this case, the teacher was physician, nurse, 
and friend to the little boy and led him out of the 
darkness of spirit-illness into the light of joy and 
happiness. She ministered to the needs of his spirit, 
supplied her own remedies, and gave to the child a 
new definition of life. Her scholarship alone would 
not have availed; nor could she have found, in all 
the books, a cure for the troubles that weighed down 
his spirit. But her tact found the way into his 
darkened soul and her love flooded it with light. 

Many teachers will recall a selection in one of 



222 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

the school readers with the caption, "Tact and 
Talent," whose authorship seems to be unknown. 
This portrayal of the comparative merits of tact and 
talent is so apropos in this chapter that the selection 
is reproduced in its entirety. 

"Talent is something, but tact is everything. Talent is 
serious, sober, grave, and respectable: tact is all that, and 
more, too. It is not a sixth sense, but it is the life of all 
the five. It is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, 
the keen smell, and the lively touch; it is the interpreter of 
all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the remover of 
all obstacles. It is useful in all places, and at all times; it 
is useful in solitude, for it shows a man into the world; it 
is useful in society, for it shows him his way through the 
world. 

"Talent is power, tact is skill; talent is weight, tact is 
momentum; talent knows what to do, tact knows how to do 
it; talent makes a man respectable, tact will make him re- 
spected; talent is wealth, tact is ready money. For all the 
practical purposes, tact carries it against talent ten to one. 

"Take them to the theater, and put them against each 
other on the stage, and talent shall produce you a tragedy 
that shall scarcely live long enough to be condemned, while 
tact keeps the house in a roar, night after night, with its 
successful farces. There is no want of dramatic talent, 
there is no want of dramatic tact; but they are seldom to- 
gether: so we have successful pieces which are not respect- 
able, and respectable pieces which are not successful. 

"Take them to the bar, and let them shake their learned 
curls at each other in legal rivalry; talent sees its way 
clearly, but tact is first at its journey's end. Talent has 
many a compliment from the bench, but tact touches fees. 
Talent makes the world wonder that it gets on no faster, 
tact arouses astonishment that it gets on so fast. And the 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 223 

secret is, that it has no weight to carry; it makes no false 
steps; it hits the right nail on the head; it loses no time; 
it takes all hints; and, by keeping its eye on the weather 
cock, is ready to take advantage of every wind that blows. 

"Take them into the church: talent has always some- 
thing worth hearing, tact is sure of abundance of hearers; 
talent may obtain a living, tact will make one; talent gets 
a good name, tact a great one; talent convinces, tact con- 
verts; talent is an honor to the profession, tact gains honor 
from the profession. 

"Take them to court: talent feels its weight, tact finds 
its way; talent commands, tact is obeyed; talent is honored 
with approbation, and tact is blessed by preferment. Place 
them in the senate: talent has the ear of the house, but 
tact wins its heart, and has its votes; talent is fit for em- 
ployment, but tact is fitted for it. It has a knack of slipping 
into place with a sweet silence and glibness of movement, as 
a billiard-ball insinuates itself into the pocket. 

"It seems to know everything, without learning any- 
thing. It has served an extemporary apprenticeship; it 
wants no drilling; it never ranks in the awkward squad; 
it has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind side. It puts on 
no look of wondrous wisdom, it has no air of profundity, 
but plays with the details of place as dextrously as a well- 
taught hand flourishes over the keys of the piano-forte. It 
has all the air of common-place, and all the force ana power 
of genius." 

While it is true that the Great Teacher drove 
from the temple, with a scourge of small cords, the 
changers of money and those that desecrated the 
sanctuary by selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and 
so employed drastic measures when they were need- 
ful; still, it is equally true that He wrote on the 
ground, when the scribes and Pharisees came to 



224 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

accuse the woman, as though He did not hear them. 
When He finally spoke He confounded them by say- 
ing, "He that is without sin among you, let him 
first cast a stone at her," and then resumed his 
writing on the ground. When He looked up again 
the woman's accusers were gone and, when she told 
Him that no man condemned her, He replied, 
"Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." 

No comment on this incident could possibly add 
to its force and fitness as an illustration of tact. 
The accusations of the accusers were made to con- 
demn themselves, and the woman received the great 
boon of both life and forgiveness. With all due 
reverence, it may be said that one might paraphrase 
some of the verses of the thirteenth chapter of First 
Corinthians, using the word tact in place of charity 
and not do violence to either the truth or beauty of 
those noble passages. 

The teacher of a primary grade in a city where 
the penny savings plan is in operation, in a letter 
to a friend, tells of an incident in her school as fol- 
lows: "Every Monday morning the children pur- 
chase stamps and, on this particular morning, one 
little chap brought a nickel which disappeared 
during our morning exercises. When he told me 
of his loss, I looked carefully about his desk and 
clothing, and was soon convinced that some one had 
gained possession of it. I thoroughly believe that 
the instinct in a little child to take the thing that 
attracts him should not be called stealing; and, for 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 225 

that reason, did not continue the search. I thought 
I knew who had the nickel but did not want this 
child or the other children to know of my suspicions. 
So, I only said that I was so sorry that Sam had 
lost his money, but felt certain that it was some- 
where in the room. I told them to think how very 
sorry they would be to lose their money, and sug- 
gested that we all look for it. In just a few min- 
utes the little boy, whom I suspected, came running 
to my desk with the lost coin. Not one of the class 
suspected, for a moment, that he had taken the 
money. I then took that opportunity to impress 
upon their minds the idea of ownership, and why it 
is wrong to keep anything that does not belong to 
us." 

In this incident we find a further justification 
for the suggestion that charity and tact have much 
in common, even if they are not synonymous. By 
her charitable view of the child's offense, she saved 
him from the suspicion of his mates and consequent 
odium, and, at the same time, greatly reduced the 
possibility of a repetition of the offense. She left 
him experiencing a feeling of joy that he had done 
a right thing rather than a feeling of guilt that 
he had done a wrong one. She believes, with Ten- 
nyson, that it is better to praise the good than to 
rail at the bad. By her kindly attitude toward the 
child, she seemed to say to him, "Neither do I con- 
demn thee : go, and sin no more." She has no incli- 
nation to exploit her own impeccability at the ex- 

15 



226 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

pense of childhood but, taking the larger view of 
the child's welfare, she exhibits a lofty appreciation 
of her opportunities and worthily exemplifies the 
methods of the Master. 

Parents too little appreciate, very often, how 
much such teachers are doing for their children and 
for themselves, in the way of inculcating right prin- 
ciples, and in forming right habits. The physician, 
who heals the body of their child, has their deepest 
gratitude ; the teacher's work in healing their child's 
soul is taken as a matter of course. Roger Ascham, 
in "The School Master," expresses this thought as 
follows : 

"It is a pity that, commonly, more care is had, yea, and 
that among very wise men, to find out rather a cunning man 
for their horse, than a cunning man for their children. They 
say nay in word, but they do so in deed. For to the one 
they will gladly give a stipend of two hundred crowns by 
year, and loath to offer to the other two hundred shillings. 
God, that sitteth in heaven, laugheth their choice to scorn, 
and rewardeth their liberality as it should; for he suffereth 
them to have tame and well-ordered horse, but wild and 
unfortunate children; and, therefore, in the end, they find 
more pleasure in their horse than comfort in their children." 

One of the boys in a fifth grade took keen delight 
in exciting laughter in the class and often resorted 
to antics that were not in good taste. On one such 
occasion, the teacher suggested that, instead of 
laughing, they really ought to feel sorry for a boy 
who knew no better than to indulge in such conduct. 
The effect was wholesome and the boy found himself 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 227 

alone, with public sentiment against him. Being 
thus alienated from his own standards, through the 
power of ostracism and isolation, he soon conformed 
to the high standards of the class. The tact of this 
teacher brought about an instant alignment of the 
class on the side of right and the offending boy was 
forced to join their ranks. 

Happy is that teacher who has the ability to 
rally to the support of her policies the pupils who 
are the leaders in her school. 

The following incident in a kindergarten school 
well illustrates another phase of tactfulness. The 
teacher tells of the incident as follows: "A small 
boy, ungoverned and, seemingly, ungovernable, had 
reached the kindergarten age, meeting every request 
and every command with an emphatic 'I won't/ 
Fortunately, the teacher knew of this fault and re- 
solved that she would give him no opportunity to 
refuse a command from her. For several days he 
was permitted to do just the things that pleased 
him, without let or hindrance. He soon found it 
pleasanter to be in the circle than out, and joined 
in the games, but no persuasion was used. It soon 
became evident that the sand-table was his greatest 
joy. One day the teacher seeing him headed directly 
for this table, said to him, 'Charles, go to the sand- 
table/ which was her first command. He hesitated, 
and the struggle was on, his joy in the sand-table 
doing battle with his long-cherished habit of rebel- 
lion. For some time he stood there, and then did 



228' THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

as he was bidden. This was the first of several sim- 
ilar experiences, but the result was that he gradually 
formed the habit of obedience without having real- 
ized it." 

This teacher had resourcefulness, insight, pa- 
tience, and perseverance, and knew how to make 
them all redound to the child's advantage. In the 
application of these qualities to the solution of her 
problem she showed tact. 

Not every one is able to open a safe, even when 
the combination lies before him; but the child is a 
far more complex organization than the safe, and 
the combination, in his case, has never been printed. 
The teacher must, first of all, discover the combi- 
nation for each individual, and then make the nice 
adjustments, and give the delicate handling or she 
can not hope to succeed. 

Tact is the talisman that transforms wrath into 
amiability and antagonism into friendliness. When 
the irate mother went to the school with anger in 
her heart against the teacher, the smile that greeted 
her at the door and the kindly assurances of pleasure 
at her coming completely disarmed her, and the 
conference that ensued concerning the recalcitrant 
boy, who was present, resulted in a better home for 
the lad, a better school because of his transforma- 
tion, and two staunch supporters of the teacher. 
Since that day the mother has been singing the 
praises of the school and the teacher; and the boy 
has been winning favor with himself and others 



THE TACTFUL TEACHER. 229 

and is now an honorable young man, earning a com- 
petence by honest work. 

When the colored woman visited the teacher to 
express her indignation at his veiled insinuation 
that her daughter had written her own excuse for 
absence, and was told that the writing was so good 
that he thought it must be the daughter's, the 
mother beamed with pleasure and her indignation 
vanished. 

As the teacher grows in scholarship, in teaching 
power, and in larger appreciation of all the move- 
ments, social and educational, that are contributing 
to a broader culture and a better civilization, she 
will do well to consider the value of tact in giving 
potency and charm to all her other attainments and 
in making her work more effective both for the 
present and for the future. 

When the little girl, in grief and anger, com- 
plained that Dorothy had torn her pretty cutting, 
the teacher in soothing tones, replied, "And a little 
girl that cuts as well as you do, doesn't mind it at 
all, does she?" The little one's anger was gone at 
once, and she had learned a lesson that will stand 
her in good stead through life — a lesson, indeed, 
that her elders might learn with profit. 

When the teacher complimented James on his 
clean face but made no mention of his soiled hands, 
she knew full well that the hands would be clean 
next day, and her purpose was accomplished with- 
out unpleasantness. 



230 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

Many of the incidents that are used in this chap- 
ter as illustrations of tact, might be expanded into 
stories for they are all true, and the moral is 
obvious. 

In a certain school a knife disappeared and the 
teacher was at a loss how to proceed. After much 
deliberation she adopted this plan : Upon each desk 
she placed a crumpled bit of paper and then passed 
the waste-basket, saying that after the children had 
gone she expected to find the knife in the basket. 
By recovering the knife in this tactful way she 
averted embarrassment and heartaches and possible 
future peculations. 

A little girl came running to the teacher to tell 
her through her tears that she had been hit in the 
back of the head. Whereupon, the teacher replied, 
"Oh, you don't know how glad I am that you were 
not hit in the face!" and went on to explain how 
much worse it might have been. It was worth the 
pain it cost her, for the little girl to learn from this 
tactful teacher the principle of philosophy which 
counsels us to find and look upon the bright side in 
all the vicissitudes of life. 



CHAPTER TWENTY. 
SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 

He that governs well leads the blind; but he that 
teaches gives him eyes. — South. 

A SCHOOL is an association of people who come 
together for a few hours each day for the 
purpose of working at tasks in common. 
These tasks present difficulties to the workers and 
it has been found that their work is facilitated by- 
having associated with them another person who 
has had experience in the tasks which they are try- 
ing to master and who has the ability to guide 
their efforts into lines of effectiveness. 

Since these people work at their tasks in groups, 
it becomes necessary to have rules and regulations 
for their guidance so as to conserve the interests 
of all members of the group. Infractions of these 
rules tend to mar the integrity of the group activity 
and so diminishes the output in quantity or quality, 
or both. 

In order that these rules may effect the purpose 
for which they were promulgated, the leader must 
be clothed with authority, with power to act, within 
specified limits. Punishment may be meted out to 
one who violates a rule, or even expulsion from the 

(231) 



232 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

group. However, good judgment, wisdom, dis- 
cretion, fairness, and sympathy are assumed to be 
among the qualities that inhere in the leader who 
is, therefore, incapable of inflicting punishment 
through prejudice, pique or caprice. Hence, pun- 
ishment, in any form or degree, is unknown unless 
the interests of the colony demand it; and, even 
then, it is preceded by kindly persuasion in an effort 
to preserve the harmony of the group. For har- 
mony is a necessary condition of success. Without 
harmony, the work falters and languishes. Better, 
by far, that one should be banished, if need be, than 
that the interests of all should suffer. 

This leader, the teacher, must inspire her pupils 
with enthusiasm for and in their work; she must 
see to it that method, order, and system characterize 
all their activities; and she must preclude the en- 
trance of disturbance and inharmony. 

These pupils come together with widely different 
inherited tendencies and from home environments 
of varying standards. These differences complicate 
her problem and impose a heavy tax upon her inge- 
nuity and her patience. Her problem is quite clearly 
defined, but the methods of solution are well-nigh 
limitless. 

She may have police powers, but she must be 
more than a policeman. She may be judge, jury, 
and counsel in combination, but humanitarian mo- 
tives must rise superior to judicial forms. She 
must divorce some pupils from the standards of 



SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 233 

their homes with no abatement of fealty to those 
homes. She must foster in each pupil a right atti- 
tude to his home, to his associates, to his teacher, 
to his school work, to the community, and to him- 
self. She must lead him to have too much respect 
for himself to do a mean thing and too much re- 
spect for his school to bring reproach upon it. 

This is not the simple thing that it seems on the 
printed page, but no type is large enough to show 
a teacher how to become a successful disciplinarian. 
If any such boon had been discovered, it would 
have been patented long ago. Brain and heart must 
unite in a firm alliance, with tact, altruism, discre- 
tion, good-will, and poise as their faithful allies. 
Each child must be made to feel that his respon- 
sibility to the members of the school is but part of 
his responsibility to the community at large, and 
that good citizenship in the school is the same in 
quality as good citizenship outside the school. He 
must be made to feel that his own individuality is 
at its best when he is working with and for others. 
He must feel that cooperation is the law of life, both 
in school and out, that, in order to live comfortably 
with people, he must work to enhance their interests. 

Shall corporal punishment be abolished? This 
question looms large in some minds, but, after all, 
it is but a question of means to end, a mere question 
of detail. Whoever lays undue stress upon such a 
question as this misses the main issue. It seems 
almost pathetic to hear teachers ask whether whis- 



234 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

pering should be permitted in school. A thousand 
such categorical questions might be asked and the 
best answers obtainable set opposite them, but no 
teacher would be safe in assuming these to be an 
infallible guide in administering the affairs of her 
school. Such questions are but a futile effort to 
mechanize the school regime, 

If a school could ever, by any possibility, become 
automatic, it would cease to be a school. Whether 
a child should be deprived of his recess, or be com- 
pelled to copy a hundred words on the blackboard 
after school, or wear a dunce-cap, or sit on the plat- 
form beside the teacher — these are not the really 
vital matters. The teacher has opportunities to do 
many foolish things, some of which she is liable to 
do unless she keeps in mind constantly the one great 
purpose of the school. 

Some teachers have far better order without 
corporal punishment than others can possibly secure 
by means of it. Some teachers make a great ado 
in the matter of whispering, and still have much 
whispering and much confusion. If these details 
are regarded as major, disorder must inevitably 
result. But, if the large purpose of the school is 
always kept in the foreground in the teacher's mind, 
the small details will largely adjust themselves. 

This large purpose is to have the mind of every 
pupil in the school centered upon worthy work all 
the while, to the exclusion of everything else. If 
this large purpose is realized, there will be neither 



SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 235 

time nor occasion for disorder. Whispering will 
give way before the greater interest, and the pupils, 
themselves, will taboo everything that interrupts or 
interferes with the work in hand. The intensity of 
their work precludes frivolous things. The nearest 
approach to self-government is found in the school 
which this large purpose dominates. 

There is no such thing as compelling a child to 
think or study. He may be led to do so; and this 
process of inducing intense thinking and guiding 
his thoughts into worthy channels produces, at the 
same time, the highest form of good order. The 
boy who is so intent upon his problem in arithmetic 
that he becomes oblivious of everybody and every- 
thing about him, will violate no rules ; and, if, when 
he reaches the correct solution, he should express 
his joy in some audible way, the pupils and the 
teacher will share his pleasure, and commend rather 
than condemn. Now, if the teacher were merely 
bent on order, his conduct would seem reprehens- 
ible; but, since she is teaching, his conduct becomes 
a proof of her success and is, therefore, commend- 
able. 

The distinction is fundamental. Before we can 
even define disorder we must be able to see below 
the surface. Whispering may seem a virtue, if it 
emanates from an intense desire to know. Run- 
ning across the room may seem meritorious, when 
we see that the boy has lost himself, for the moment, 
in his eagerness to consult the dictionary . 



236 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

At Chickamauga, the troops disobeyed the orders 
of their commander, but, by so doing, won a victory. 
On the drill-ground their conduct would have sub- 
jected them to punishment; but, in the achievement 
of victory, their disobedience was applauded. 

But what of the boy who is inattentive or dis- 
orderly? Here, again, we must revert to the prin- 
ciple that the interests of the group are paramount 
and must be held inviolate. No element should be 
introduced that will disturb the orderly procedure 
or curtail the time and attention of members of the 
group. The interests of the group interdict a public 
reproof to the offender if, by any means, this can 
be avoided. If the teacher is careful, in such a sit- 
uation, to vindicate her authority, she, herself, 
becomes an element of disorder in that she sacrifices 
the interest of the many to her own lack of resource- 
fulness or ability to control without the use of 
words. As Cicero says: "The authority of those 
who teach is very apt to be an impediment to those 
who desire to learn." 

Those who inveigh against excessive talking on 
the part of the teacher, leave us thinking that talk- 
ing is, in itself, a vice. Talking is a noble accom- 
plishment if it has to do with worthy subjects and 
is done in an artistic manner; but even this accom- 
plisment must be subordinated to the interests of 
the pupils. Otherwise, it becomes disorder. Think- 
ing is a quiet, serene process which the teacher's 
voice is bound to respect, even at the sacrifice of 



SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 237 

inclination. South says : "Teaching is not a flow of 
words, nor the draining of an hour-glass, but an 
effectual procuring that a man may know something 
which he knew not before, or to know it better." 

The quiet teacher is the effective teacher, for the 
reason that she does not disturb the thinking proc- 
ess. Silence is both golden and eloquent when it 
contributes to the progress of others. When talking 
breaks the spell of intense thinking, it loses its 
nobility and becomes indecorous. 

In this community interest may be found the 
court of last resort for all conduct in the school, 
whether of the teacher or of the pupils, and to this 
court all cases must be brought for adjudication. 
Both teacher and pupils have rights as individuals 
which may be revoked by this higher tribunal. As 
an individual the teacher has a right to wear a gown 
of her own choosing, however gorgeous; but, if 
such a gown produces nervous excitation in her 
pupils, she will abrogate her rights in their interest. 

Laws are not made for individuals, but are 
made to protect the community against individuals. 
The man who is inherently a thief could follow his 
bent, were he marooned on an island ; but, in a com- 
munity, he must be watched by police and haled into 
court when his individuality interferes with the 
well-being of others. 

Snow-balling is delightful sport, but becomes 
disorder when it disturbs the comfort of passers-by 
and brings reproach upon the school. While it re- 



238 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

mains sport, the teacher enjoys and applauds; but, 
when it becomes disorder, she must exercise control. 

The question will arise, How is she to exercise 
control? No one can answer this question for her. 
Supervisors have often tried to do so, but their 
efforts often prove harmful rather than helpful. 
Controlling a school can not be done by proxy. If 
the teacher can do it effectively, and with freedom 
from unpleasant consequences, then her way is the 
best way for her school, however widely it may 
differ from the ways of others. 

In a large school were several non-conforming 
boys. These boys were asked to act as ushers and 
guides on the occasion of a large convention when 
many visiting teachers thronged the halls. They 
were proud of the distinction and their badges, and 
did the work assigned them, to the full satisfaction 
of their teachers and the delight of the visitors. 

The principal exhibited tact in this matter and 
the results proved his wisdom, and such a course 
seems to bear the hall-mark of universal success. 
But another principal and corps of teachers might 
try the same course and find it a failure. Self- 
government in schools has been much exploited, and 
it has much in its favor, but its success depends, 
in very large measure, upon the teachers who admin- 
ister it. 

The sovereign specific for all schools, and all con- 
ditions has not yet been discovered, and the wise 
superintendent has found it unsafe to go beyond 



SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 239 

generalities in his recommendations touching the 
matter of discipline. He knows that if the teacher 
were wise and discreet enough to follow the spirit 
of his suggestions, she would have known how to 
settle the matter without appealing to him for help. 
The strong teacher does not call for help ; the weak 
teacher does not know how to use it. 

Let it not be thought that, in stressing the group 
idea in school management, the individual is to be 
ignored. Quite the contrary. A strong group 
interest will prove a lode-stone to the individual and 
draw him into the circle of interest. 

The farmer recognizes this principle, and keeps 
his flock of sheep moving along the road and gives 
scant concern to the laggard in the rear. He knows 
that, all in good time, this laggard will come leaping 
and frisking into the flock as if desertion had never 
entered its head. 

The teacher is equally wise and knows that her 
best course with the individual is to keep the work- 
ers in the group so busy and so interested that the 
laggard will find it more agreeable to become one 
of them than to be outside the circle. Having be- 
come one of them, his conduct will certainly con- 
form to their standards, even in spite of himself. 
Well-disposed pupils are "the power behind the 
throne" in the management of the school. 

They make public sentiment and this sentiment 
soon wins control over even the refractory pupil. 
The limit of influence of these well-disposed pupils 



240 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

is the teacher's expectation. They need no com- 
mands, and not even requests. As soon as they con- 
ceive a clear notion of what is expected of them both 
in quantity and quality they respond with alacrity 
and pleasure. To demand things chills pupils; to 
expect things stimulates them, begets self-respect, 
and gives scope for the exercise of initiative and the 
joy that succeeds. Commands and requests are ex- 
pressed in words ; expectation is exhaled, but no less 
well understood by the pupils on that account. By 
some subtle process they divine the teacher's expec- 
tation and no surer proof of the evolution of the 
teacher may be had than that she has developed the 
power to expect. This power makes for success in 
every activity of the school. Her demands may meet 
failure ; her sincere expectations will be realized. 

What has been said of the group interest and 
work of pupils, applies with equal pertinancy and 
force to teachers, whether of a township, a building, 
or a larger system. The best results attend their 
efforts when they are working in unison, animated 
by a common purpose, and merging their individual 
interests into the wider interests of the group. Such 
a unified corps of teachers, keeping step to the 
aspirations and plans of superintendent or principal, 
is invincible. With such teachers the principal's 
expectation is their law, and, to such as these, his 
expectation needs no supplement of words. They 
are not striving for the minimum of effort but for 
the maximum, and they esteem it a joy to bear one 



SCHOOL ECONOMICS. 241 

another's burdens. The principal consults them 
freely and often, for he has come to know their sin- 
cerity of purpose and their fidelity to the school in 
all its work and interests. To administer the affairs 
of such a school is a very real pleasure to the prin- 
cipal, and to attend such a school is a boon to the 
pupils. 



*16 



CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. 

THE EVOLUTION. 

Move upward, working out the beast, 
And let the ape and tiger die. 

— Tennyson. 

AMASS of animated protoplasm, moving along 
the line of least resistance, arrived, one 
morning, at a county examination, and by- 
some special providence was granted a certificate, 
which proclaimed to the world at large that this 
mass of protoplasm was a person of good moral 
character. Now, to be a person is something, but to 
be a person of character, of moral character, of 
good moral character is far more, and hence our 
hero experienced a sensation akin to consciousness. 
This was the beginning. 

The certificate (which seemed one of the Beati- 
tudes) and its possessor became at once the rallying 
point for a host of relatives and friends, who, by 
processes distinguished rather for perseverance 
than for glory, secured for the candidate the crown- 
ing bliss of joys supernal — a school, with specified 
emoluments. Then there was a great calm. The 
protocol was signed, peace was proclaimed, and the 
erstwhile serried hosts returned to their wonted 
avocations, flushed with the pride of victory. 

(242) 



THE EVOLUTION. 243 

School began — the first day of school. If only 
some star had fallen for him, as for ^Eneas of old, 
to mark out the path through the gloom, some sub- 
traction might have been made from the horrors of 
that day. That night he dreamed — but such dreams 
as only Dante could portray, or Dore' illustrate. 
Never was the light of day more welcome, and like- 
wise more unwelcome, than it was on that Tuesday 
morning — for he must return to the scenes of the 
previous day. No middle course — but inexorable 
Fate held him fast and impelled him to his task. 

Never did galley slave take his place with such 
dire forebodings. Never before had such a halo of 
glory hovered over the hour of three o'clock. To him, 
indeed, there was a pillar of cloud by day, and of 
fire by night — but the cloud was ominous, and the 
fire burned but did not illumine. He shrank before 
the eyes of his pupils, for their every look convicted 
him of ignorance and, therefore, of impotence. He 
saw, as if it had been a vision, that the one thing 
needful was knowledge, that learning was the "open 
sesame" to success, and that "Knowledge is Power." 

Then the Star of Hope dawned upon his soul, 
and he took courage. He must work. School went 
on. Teaching, however, was but throwing a sop to 
Cerberus to still the monster's ravings till his own 
desire had been attained. As a miser hoards his gold, 
so he hoarded knowledge. He must work to force 
his way back from the chasm that yawned at his 
feet. He must drink at the Pierian Spring, he must 



244 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

delve in the mysteries of science, and follow in the 
foot-steps of the Sages of the Past. He must wrestle 
with the Abstract and the Abstruse as Jacob wres- 
tled with the angel and with the same words upon 
his fevered lips, "I will not let thee go till thou hast 
blessed me" — hast given me knowledge. Knowledge 
was the light toward which he wrought as he tun- 
neled his way from his prison. Knowledge was the 
beacon upon the shore toward which his gaze was 
ever bent as he struggled and fought his tardy 
course across the maddened waves. 

Like Dame Rumor, he grew by motion, and 
gathered vigor as he sped along. With no lawless 
impulses to be held in check his energies were all 
focused upon the pursuit of Knowledge, and every- 
thing that could contribute in any degree to this end 
was laid under tribute. Language, Science, Mathe- 
matics — all came at his bidding and laid their rich- 
est treasures at his feet. He welcomed the evening 
shadows, for they invited him to his studies. He 
hailed the breaking light of morn with gladness, 
for it ushered in new opportunities for work. In 
the full sweep of his careering flight he sped on 
from achievement to achievement, till every fiber of 
his being thrilled with the pleasure of knowing, 
in the full conviction that the largest success in 
his chosen profession must come at his behest to 
crown his efforts. 

But it did not come. His scholarship awed, but 
it did not attract, and his pupils seemed no less 



THE EVOLUTION. 245 

anxious for the closing hour of school than he him- 
self had been in the days of old. In spite of the 
coruscations of scholarship with which he dazzled 
their bewildered gaze; in spite of oracular utter- 
ances delivered in declamatory style ; in spite of dra- 
matic appeals to them to scale the heights of Par- 
nassus, they stood aloof. He laid siege to their 
ramparts with shafts of brilliant repartee, wit, 
eloquence, raillery and sarcasm, but there was no 
capitulation, no white flag showed upon the battle- 
ments. After using all these arts in vain, they 
seemed to him to be veritable ingrates, steeped in 
rudeness and coarseness, with no appreciation of 
the True, the Beautiful and the Good — a band — a 
crowd — a gang of degenerates, and he told them so. 
As he thought, he was "casting pearls before swine," 
and he told them so. They came from homes that 
were superlatively boorish and uncouth, and he told 
them so. 

He soon became the subject of conversations at 
firesides, at social gatherings, in shops and on 
the street. Then ensued interviews with parents, 
interviews in which elegance of diction was not a 
prominent feature. Then a report was current that 
he was weak in discipline — that he was a good 
scholar but a poor teacher — that he understood his 
subject but was deficient in ability to impart instruc- 
tion. When this rumor reached his ears he was 
indignant, and resented the imputation with all the 
vehemence of his ardent, honest nature. The idea 



246 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHE&. 

that boors should presume to sit in judgment upon 
a scholar, and cast aspersions upon that of which 
their own narrowness precluded any adequate con- 
ception. But maturer reflection convinced him that 
a full and complete understanding of methods — of 
educational standards could, at least, do no harm 
and might prove to be the talisman he sought. 

He then inaugurated his second campaign of 
work — of unremitting toil — toil that abounded in 
inspiring anticipations. Beginning with Pedagogy, 
he found that he must go far back ere his foot- 
steps could be fixed on solid ground, and so retreated 
to Psychology; but even this sped before him like a 
will-o'-the-wisp till he found himself in ancient 
Greece, sitting at the feet of Plato and Aristotle, 
learning of those things which, formerly, in his 
imagining he had thought would be revealed only in 
Heaven. Then he began a pilgrimage to the West, 
following the stream whose source he had so recently 
discovered. Barely discernible in Italy he found it 
reappearing beyond the Alps. In France, and espe- 
cially in Germany he must needs make a long pause 
in order to take a thorough survey of the course he 
was pursuing. At times he was dazed — but always 
in a transport of rapture — as he traversed the 
lesser streams that issued from or into the main 
current. Sometimes he struggled through places of 
darkness, that would have appalled a less intrepid 
man — .and sometimes through heaps of rubbish 
most uninspiring — but he was ever buoyed up by 



THE EVOLUTION. 247 

the belief that clear water would be found just 
beyond. Across the Channel into England he passed 
and there he found his stream running strong and 
often pellucid — thence to the Atlantic shores where 
he found no diminution, but rather a delta of 
streams that rejoiced his heart. He reveled in the 
treasures of Pedagogy now with fullness of joy, 
finding in it a sovereign panacea — and thence into 
child-study with a zeal that knew no abatement. 
The nomenclature of these studies became so 
familiar that they seemed to have been learned in 
his cradle. Concept, apperception, correlation, as- 
similation were terms no less familiar than the 
words of his mother's lullaby. He was an enthusiast 
in his work. Moreover, he was honest, and honest 
enthusiasm can work wonders. 

Thus it came to pass that he was recognized as 
authority, and was in demand. He lectured and 
wrote, directed others in their work, and conducted 
a voluminous correspondence. Being human, he ex- 
ulted in the greatness that seemed thrust upon him. 
All this for glory. He taught school as a means of 
gaining a livelihood. But teaching was irksome. He 
had had a taste of ambrosia, and ordinary edibles 
were insipid. He yearned to show others how to 
teach, rather than to do the work himself, and the 
success that he had so fondly hoped for and worked 
for seemed a vanishing quantity. "Better," thought 
he, "stand upon the lofty eminence I have attained, 
and point out to others the paths they ought to 



248 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

travel. Better to be an oracle on the subject, and 
accept the homage of earnest devotees, and merit 
their grateful acknowledgements and reverence." 

But while waiting upon the mountain top for 
some agency to transport him into or beyond the 
clouds, a message came that called him down into 
the valley — among the people. Heeding the call, he 
devoted himself assiduously to this mission, follow- 
ing a line of activity that led him into homes of all 
grades of society. In a single day he visited homes 
that were surfeited with luxuries they could no 
longer enjoy, and homes where poverty and squalor 
and disease had begotten sheer indifference and 
despair. 

He saw the wan, discouraged mother trying to 
soothe to rest her helpless babe as it writhed with 
pain that she had no means of alleviating. He saw 
a mere child — haggard from hard work, and want 
of food — trying, as best she could, to prepare food 
for younger brothers and sisters, whose clamor- 
ings even the curses and reviling of the father had 
not been able to still. He saw this same child forced 
from her home in the cold of winter, with cloth- 
ing scarce worthy the name, by a besotted father, 
to beg the food for which he would not work. He 
knew of the presence of the Angel of Death in the 
home, not by the crape on the door, which had 
been interdicted by the decree of Poverty, but by 
the joy of the father that there was one less to be 
fed. 



THE EVOLUTION. 249 

He saw children huddled together in bed seeking 
the warmth there was no fire to bestow. He saw 
shivering mothers and children waiting in the snow 
for broken bits of food that came from the hand of 
Charity while the husband and father slept by the 
fire of the saloon across the street. He saw mothers, 
ambitious for their children, striving day and night 
to make good their claim to respectability, depriving 
themselves of necessities that their children might 
be clothed, fed and educated. He saw fathers in 
their heroic struggle with pitiless adversity — in 
pain of body and anguish of soul — trying to batter 
down and break through the adamant, to make a 
path of honor for their children. 

He saw elegant homes, whose very elegance was 
a snare for the feet of the children, devastating 
the flowers of simplicity and sincerity, and fos- 
tering the noxious weeds of cant and hypocrisy, 
homes whose standard of living must lead to future 
recklessness, if not utter ruin. He saw fathers 
who thought all obligations to their children can- 
celed because they had mentioned them in their 
wills, and mothers who delegated the care of their 
children to the servants that they might have more 
leisure for society, and others who abridged and 
suppressed all spontaneity and buoyancy in their 
children in the interests of inanimate furniture and 
draperies. Other parents he saw who considered 
their children their debtors ad infinitum merely be- 
cause they had brought them into the world, and 



250 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

still others who plucked the blossoms from the tree 
of life under the specious pretext of exercising 
capricious, distorted parental authority. 

Thus did he become conversant with the infinity 
of details and ramifications in the machinery of 
what is called civilization. He learned the motives 
that impel men and women to action, and read their 
effects in the conditions of homes and individuals. 
He saw gaunt poverty stalking in the footsteps both 
of shif tlessness and prodigality ; he saw disease and 
death dogging the steps of unreasoning self -gratifi- 
cation, leading in their train mental and moral tur- 
pitude, misery and crime. He saw Anarchy un- 
sightly and hydra-headed, waxing strong in homes 
because there was no power of reason, of discretion, 
of sympathy, and of love to stifle its growth. 

From the contemplation of such scenes he turned 
to the school once more, with the air of one who 
has a serious mission, but radiant with the joy of 
hope — and standing upon the threshold he asked 
of his own soul, "What is the purpose of the school ?" 
— and the answer came clear and strong, "To im- 
part useful knowledge, to train mind and soul and 
body, to impart pure ideas and high ideals of man- 
hood and womanhood, to transform a mass of un- 
trained children, some of whom are the offspring 
of a long line of untrained parents, into a nation 
of men and women able physically, mentally and 
morally, not only to recognize the deep responsibility 
of citizenship, but also to contribute their share 



THE EVOLUTION. 251 

toward furthering the development of home, of 
country, of civilization." 

And again he asked, "How can this be done?" 
and no less clear came the answer, "Whatever we 
would do for our country we must do for its people. 
Whatever we would do for its people must be done 
for its homes, and whatever we would do for its 
homes must be done for and through the children" 
— and he walked to his desk humble yet full of 
courage. 

The aspect of the school room had changed. No 
longer did the pupils seem foes to be subdued, but 
friends to be assisted and encouraged. He felt as 
President Harrison had expressed it, that every 
child needs an adult chum, and he was glad to be- 
come such to each one and to establish a reciprocity 
of confidence and trust, knowing this to be the only 
sure foundation upon which to build the superstruc- 
ture which had now become his ideal. 

Through the glow of sympathy the mountain of 
ice which in the past had loomed so majestic, had 
been transformed into a limpid stream, slaking the 
thirst of the multitude and nourishing flowers along 
its borders. No longer was arithmetic taught 
merely for the sake of a knowledge of numbers — 
nor yet simply for the relation of these numbers to 
the requirements of the business world, but, by the 
subtle alchemy of his personality, he sought to trans- 
mute the baser elements of school subjects into the 
refined elements of character — into love for home 



252 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

— into love for fellowman, and thus into love for 
country. He sought to project the influence of his 
life, through the medium of the children, into the 
homes whence they came, and through the homes 
into the state — not alone for the present but for 
the future. He sought to inculcate in the children a 
spirit that would not despise a cabin but would 
adorn it. 

As if obeying the divine injunction, "Feed my 
lambs — Feed my sheep," he was intent upon dis- 
seminating such wholesome instruction in the school 
that fathers and mothers in the homes would be 
nourished and strengthened by it. It was his pleas- 
ure rather to praise the good than to rail at the 
bad — and he was constantly discovering good where 
formerly he could see nothing but evil — and by 
the sunlight of his own chastened spirit warming 
this good into growth and power. No more exhibi- 
tion of the wares of scholarship to entertain and 
awe, for scholarship had become a sacred trust, 
too sacred to be debased by such unholy uses. On 
the contrary, he led the children by the hand among 
the truths of science, history, literature, and nature 
in the same spirit of simple natural delight that 
would have characterized a stroll in a garden of 
flowers. 

He need not lecture now, for he could converse 
with his pupils, and revel in that community of 
intercourse that is possible only to hearts that are 
charged with kindred sentiments of sympathy and 



THE EVOLUTION. 253 

interest. His power was that of the sun that warms 
and gives life — rather than that of the boisterous 
wind that only devastates. No more flaunting of 
the first personal pronoun before the school, for it 
was relegated to the limbo of past follies, to do 
penance forevermore. 

His pupils were now first in his every plan and 
purpose, and personal popularity was regarded as 
too groveling a motive to have a place in the school. 
His work was too serious — too broad — too far- 
reaching, and fraught with too much responsibility 
for that. Nor could he afford time to cavil about 
what was high and what was low in the curriculum 
of the school, for it was all high or all low, according 
to the use made of it. Nor was there to him any 
going up the line or down the line — but rather he 
yearned that there should be a moving along the 
line. 

He could teach children in the kindergarten and 
seniors in the college or the university, — all in the 
same room and at the same hour, and experience the 
same thrill of pleasure, and the same sense of honor 
in the presence of both. He was working for the 
children, he was working for his country, he was 
working for humanity, he was honest and intensely 
earnest and, therefore, was no snob. He realized 
that one child, at the age of six years, is a century 
in advance of another of the same age — and, hence, 
his work must be with the individual pupils — with 
no issuing of rations in bulk to lure the bold to 



254 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER. 

excess of boldness, and drive the timid hungry 
away. By the largeness and exuberant vitality of 
his wholesome nature, he touched life at many 
points, and nothing that affects humanity was alien 
to his brain or his heart. Recognizing the individ- 
uality of his pupils he sought to utilize to the best 
advantage the possibilities of each individual nature. 
He was more interested in what they should be than 
in what they should know, and yet he emphasized 
the knowing as a condition precedent to the being. 

Many a home felt the influence of his gentle, 
kindly efforts, many a heart warmed with grat- 
itude at the mention of his name, many a mother 
read to her children and husband from the book 
that came from his table, and many a father took 
courage and hope from the lessons that emanated 
from that school. And thus all unconsciously to 
himself he had attained to mastery, — mastery in 
his efforts for humanity, — mastery in his striving 
to make the school the power-house for all homes 
in the community whence they might derive warmth 
and light, — mastery in his striving to glorify the 
way of Truth. 



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